When a Missionary is TOO Friendly

Dear Bro Jo,

I am a college student living very far from home and I attend Church on my own.

Oftentimes the missionaries would be teaching investigators that were young women and would ask for my assistance and the lessons would always go extremely well and the spirit was always present.

In fact, one young girl that we have been teaching is getting baptized next month.

Transfers are tomorrow however and one of the missionaries that I was working with gave me his name tag.

I'm not sure what this means and was wondering if you could enlighten me.

Sincerely,

- Confused




Dear Confused,

I haven't heard of the name-tag give-away before . . . my guess is that he wants you to remember him.  If I'm right, then this "supposed-to-not-be-focusing-on-girls" missionary is bending, if not breaking, a few rules.

For one, Elders are not supposed to be meeting with women alone; neither are they supposed to be in any meeting where it's two Elders and two women - that's too much like a double date.

Two, they only get so many name tags (sometimes just one or two) and since they're always supposed to be wearing one, it doesn't seem right that they'd give it away.

I find the whole thing unsettling, and I wish you'd refused to take it.  Any chance I can talk you into giving it back?

Clearly the guy has a thing for you . . . and this whole name-tag thing . . . I find it more creepy than romantic.

Tell you what, I'll mention this on the Facebook page and see what the readers have to say (since it will likely be months before your email posts in the column).

- Bro Jo




Dear Confused,

You know, the more I think about this, the more I think this missionary was going out of his way to spend an inappropriate amount of time with you . . . whether the Spirit was present or not.

And that's more than just a little unsettling.

Give the name tag to your Bishop and let him deal with it and this missionary.

- Bro Jo




Dear Bro Jo,

That’s an interesting perspective - thanks!

I think its really a good thing he is being transferred then, I’d really like for him to be able to focus. He is done in four months though and if things do work out, I'd really want him to have served an honorable mission.

And I have heard of missionaries giving their name tags to families or individuals they have baptized, but I don't know if this was anything similar.

- Confused




Dear Confused,

We "hear" of lots of stuff in the Church.  That doesn't mean that it's A) true, or B) a good idea.

I hope you saw the comments on this topic that were on the "Dear Bro Jo" Facebook page.


- Bro Jo



[Dear Readers,

I originally received this email many years ago so finding the post on the Facebook page would take you a very long time.  To make life a little easier for those that are interested I'll post those comments (anonymously) here on the blog page tomorrow.

Best,

- Bro Jo]