mormons, Return missionaries! what did a mission do to strengthen your testimony and what does it provide? ...

Question

for the real world?
can you imagine any difference in being a jehova witness when they go on their teaching visits? or when a protestant actually serves a mission in their church?

Answer 1

LDS and JW are the only self-described Christian religions which actually and effectively encourage all adherents to engage in lay-ministry. In that, they are really the only ones obeying Christ's explicit direction at Matthew 28:19,20.

While a LDS "missionary" may feel compelled to demean the ministry of a JW "pioneer", there would seem to be little substantive reason to do so. The fact is that EVERY active Jehovah's Witness minister engages in public ministry each month, not for one year or two but for the rest of his life. The fact is that about 10% of Jehovah's Witnesses serve as a full-time minister any given month. The fact is that in nearly every country on earth, local Jehovah's Witnesses are able to 'take the lead' in the evangelizing of their own country.

The fact is that LDS "conversion" is typically declared after a mere handful of sessions, whereas a person hoping to qualify for baptism as a Jehovah's Witness must demonstrate a thorough knowledge and conviction of that religion's beliefs, and must already be a regular participant in the ministry himself.

It insults Jehovah's Witnesses to suggest that they cannot wait to finish a witnessing session so that they may return to their television sets.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/jt/index.htm?article=article_04.htm
http://jw-media.org/people/ministry.htm

Answer 2

Part of what allows a mission to have the effect it does is the dedicated time you spend on it. For 1 to 2 years you do nothing but serve the Lord. Even if you take the religious aspect of it out of the picture, spending that much time in the service of others will have an effect on your life. I do not know anything about the Protestant missions but the Jehovah's Witnesses teaching visits do not provide the same environment or opportunity for a life changing event like what serving a mission does for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does.
My mission was the best two years of my life it was literally a childhood dream come true. I was a completely different person by the time I came back and I as result of that am a much happier person.

Answer 3

I am not Mormon or Jehovah Witness. However, I have worked in outreach and mission work for much of my life. I think it's important. I think it can be an amazing experience. You see how someone else is living and you take the view and the worry off of yourself. You stop worrying so much about your own issues and you start to focus on someone else for just a moment long enough to be concerned with THEIR life rather than your own. That is a fantastic feeling. That is exactly what Christ did. His concern was with our lives rather than his own.

Answer 4

the others when they serve their mission trips and visits get to go home at the end of the day or the end of a few weeks, LDS missionaries go for two years, live away from their families, avoid t.v. and newspapers and radio for that time. They immerse themselves in serving God for two years. They learn to cook and clean and take care of them selves with out their parents,learn to get along with total strangers who are their roommates/companions. is this what you wanted to know?

Answer 5

Return CHRISTIAN/Calvinst missionary, to Romania, I saw a miracle when our translator fell 2 stories from the Pastors building trying to jump and hit his head on the ground, he came out of th ehosbital with just a scratch on the head and a headache, he should have had brain damage or been dead.
A man with a knife never attacked out gang. but followed us around. The next day he showed up with his daughter at our VBS (Vacation Bible School) for the Gypcie village. PTL.

Answer 6

I have lived in Utah and Hawaii. Utah is about half LdS and Hawaii 4%. Most LdS missionaries come from places where the Church is already known. On my mission in Brazil, less than 1% of the people I met were members. It is quite a shock to live in such a situation.

One benefit of living in an area with so few other LdS is the increased opportunity to exercise the priesthood. I can't believe how many blessings I was asked to give. And since God was on my mind 24/7 giving blessings was never easier - actual words (even words I hadn't yet learned in Portuguese) would leave my mouth and make perfect sense to the recipient.

I saw a man change watching a 10-year-old get baptized. This man had been investigating the Church for over a year trying to find something, ANYTHING, to disprove it. When the 10-year-old came up out of the water, Joao was crying and begging to be baptized, too. No amount of talking could convince him, it took the simple faith of a child to convert him.

Missionaries from the Jehovah's Witnesses also see people change, but as LdS missionaries we live missionary work 24/7. We don't just preach for a couple hours a day then turn on the tv. We have time to study the Scriptures, teach families, and make more contacts.

As for skills that carry over to the "real world" I think most have already been listed in other posts. We learn all sorts of domestic work - cooking, sewing, laundry. We learn how to live under the same roof with a complete stranger without tearing their head off (good for dealing with college roommates). We learn how to resolve conflicts. Most importantly, we learn how to rely more on the Lord.

Answer 7

you get to hang out in a new town. its a good time for all involved.

Answer 8

Hopefully you will not compare them with the Islamic Jihad.

Answer 9

LDS and JW are NOT, let me repeat are NOT the only religions to encourage ministry or witnessing. They DO NOT have a monopoly on spreading the gospels.
It is arrogant for any JW to assert that, and beyond arrogant it is untrue.

I hope you receive better answers that you are receiving. (I apologize for this comment, new postings must have been answering while I was)

Answer 10

The next missionary that knocks on my door is getting a copy of "The God Makers" and a prayer from me that they stop believing my multiple gods, or that they will become a god.