• The Snark Urge@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Reminder: These kids are being sent to your door as part of their indoctrination, not yours. Their harsh experiences in the secular world are designed to reinforce their bonds to the in-group. A moment of kindness and showing them normalcy where they do not expect it may be just what they need.

    • frezik@midwest.social
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      9 months ago

      As a former Jehovah’s Witness, this is correct. I don’t know what Mormon rates look like, but the amount of people actually converted this way for JWs is abysmal. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mormon rates are similar. JWs have had trouble keeping up with birthrates in the population at large; that comes down to losing younger members at the same rate that they bring older adults in.

      What it does is have you spending a lot of time on activities in the organization. This takes away time you might spend on something other than the org. It also build a large sunk cost fallacy up in your mind. If you were to leave, you’re admitting that all that time was a waste. You need to keep doing it to make the previous waste of time “worth it”.

      Any people actually converted this way are a bonus, not the primary goal.

    • Red Army Dog Cooper@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      some advice I got given years and years ago when I was still in high school was, you do not need to invite them inside, but offer them a drink and a conversation, (try to keep it away from the bible… when I have done this I have been sucsessful some of the time in doing this) and the mentor who was giving this advice told me he always offered them his phone, because often they would not be allowed to call home while on mission, and he wanted them to be allowed to talk to their family.

      This advice has really stuck with me, and I have tried to do this every time I have had interactions with them before. My best experence me and one missionary where talking about a shared intrest over aircraft, it was a good 45 minutes, though it was unfortunately ruined when his partner noticed that we where not talking about religion.

      • Zink@programming.dev
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        9 months ago

        That phone thing sounds like a powerful gesture. It would be kind and thoughtful even without the religious context.