This is from 1988 if there are any fun changes to look for.
I have a 1962 edition of Widstoe’s Priesthood and Church Government and a full set of church history from around the same time too.
Not an ExMo, but have a little bit of a hyperfixation. I’ve always kinda wanted someone to knock so I can talk to them about the Salamander letter and the Book of Abraham.
Or being really engaged and down to be baptized, but at the last minute “I’m a transgender man, am I eligible for the Priesthood?”
I had all sorts of plans for when the missionaries finally would come to my door. When that day finally came, I took one look at those poor bastards and I could just see the pain behind their eyes. Kind of took the fun out of it I’m afraid.
It was kind of fun though to inform them that my name is on their list of do not contact; I grew up the poster boy of the Ward so when my family left it sent some shock waves through the congregation!
ooh, the salamander letter would be a gooood topic of convo. Most members and missionaries don’t know about that one
The entire Mark Hoffman story is wild.
Like, if the letter had been genuine - that would imply that Mormonism was false? But they were just going to buy it and hide it?
The entire story seems to insinuate that the church higher ups know that Joseph Smith was a liar and a conman. That and the Book of Abraham just don’t leave any room for someone to rationally believe in Mormonism.
Del Parsons Jesus is the Utah-est Jesus.
I love it. Mainline Protestants gave up so much of that aesthetic in the 70’s.
I really want to surprise a missionary with the secret handshake too.
There’s a couple of variations that actually might throw them off worse.
Put your thumb over the first knuckle or in between the first two knuckles. Those are the lead-ups to the “true” handshake.
They’re all either variants or copies of Freemason signs.
I mean you can always call the missionaries in your area and ask for a visit lmao. Not quite the same as them just showing up. I’m not enough of a church history buff to know what would be good in those (more so that i don’t know what things they’ve started trying to cover up). I do have a bunch of old Mormon literature too but I’ve never taken time to study it.
Ive always just wanted to invite them in to play super smash brothers and have some beers. Id let them come over as much as they’d want if they promise to just take a break and never try to teach a lesson lmao
I would like to get to know some of them as bros, and then drop the “oh yeah I was born female” on them. It would be very funny - I pass to the point that I have literally told people at pride parades and they didn’t believe me.
Or go through the process of actually joining and getting a temple recommend before that bombshell haha.
I wouldn’t even mind the lessons - I was introduced to most of Mormonism through the podcast Irreligiosophy, so it’s never been presented to me in a sympathetic way.
Hell yeah! That would be hilarious.
But it would be a huge investment to actually get the temple recommend. Itd be a big time commitment and you would definitely need to lie to tell them you’re in between jobs so they don’t expect tithing from you. Last i knew (been out for many years) it was a minimum of a year to get a temple recommend all the while you’re pretending to be Mormon.
Now if you really want to commit to the bit then my recommendation would be to get the temple recommend, go through the temple, then the next month during fast and testimony meeting bear your testimony about how great the temple experience was and how you feel so blessed to hold the priesthood as a transman. Legit would be a bombshell lmao. 😅
I will say that i still keep tabs on my old local ward where there is a transboy, and there are varying levels of support from the congregation. Officially the church as an institution are a bunch of fucking bigots (cw:anti trans policies) , but i do know in my local ward the transboy has the support of his parents and a good chunk of the congregation. There is a chance that if you had fun with the missionaries they might play it as cool and have nothing wrong with it personally but if you ask pointed questions about the churches teachings they’d have to explain it to you. Honestly might be a good opportunity if you manage to find an ally-leaning missionary and walk them through the cognitive dissonance of trying to be an ally while supporting an institution that is terribly bigoted. One of the three big things to break my shelf was basically me realizing that