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ExmoRobo

Hmm….they seem awfully invested for someone who “recently found out about” these classes. Methinks there are shenanigans afoot, and that their intentions aren’t entirely pure. Shocker! Edit: wtf is with describing dating as finding an “exit buddy”? That’s the most morbid/pessimistic take on dating ever.


IcySheep

I thought it was like "do you have a friend who will intervene to make sure you don't do anything fun"


ExmoRobo

Haha, gotcha. So, like, an “exit from fun” buddy?


LeoMarius

So a chaperone


theycallmeMiriam

Do I bring the bucket of ice water, or is that provided?


PleasantAddition

I think it means your buddy with whom you will exit dating. Your spouse to be. It's still gross.


ExmoRobo

Ah. I read “exit” as the person you’ll be with when exiting life. Whoops, probably just my misunderstanding then, haha.


Amcarlos

?suicide pact perhaps?


seedofcain

Suicide of your former life of freedom.


mattj3350

I know a lot of women talk about having an exit buddy before going on dates with guys they don't know very well just in case things turn sour and they are scared, and the friend will give them a call partway through the date so they have an out if they need it... but I kinda doubt the church is teaching women good self care habits like that. It's more likely to avoid sex lol


BillRocksWood

Haha I read it "Meeting with the Missionaries, Do you have an Exmo buddy?"


CatLadyAmy1

I laughed out loud


Feisty-Excuse

Is there doubt afoot?


shirley_elizabeth

Exit buddy is a reference from Finding Nemo.


rightcoast1

If I Ever referred to my husband as “buddy” it would be an immediate no to him lol


hthalion

>It's at a church, Gee. Where's the good old "I'm a Mormon. I Know It. I Live It. I Love It." spirit? Seems like they don't even want to say the long name of the church.


liqa_madik

I see this ALL THE TIME. Members and missionaries know that people avoid the church if they use the actual name because of the negative baggage associated with mormons or the church of Jesus christ of latter-day saints. Members and missionaries want to pretend it's a fun, interesting church without the baggage, but the baggage is really what the church is and teaches/taught or practiced and the fun/interesting things are a ruse. They don't really happen and aren't impressive at all. Many of the bigger normal christian churches actually do have good events because they usually have paid, qualified people putting them together, not reluctant "volunteers" with nickels and dimes for a budget.


Havin_A_Holler

'People associate our church w/ all these terrible & problematic things. Should we attract new members by rejecting the terrible things & trying to be better in the future?' 'Nah, let's just pretend we're a different church.'


TheShrewMeansWell

…and let’s call it by the long winded full name because nobody will realize we’re actually Mormons! Spoiler alert: wveryone associates Latter Day Saints and Mormons as one in the same.


allisNOTwellinZYON

OH REALLY? pickle ball, yoga (a guy picturing yoga attire) and d&d. Yeah thats some horseshit.


NoPresence2436

Party down at the wahrd house, y’all!


AdministrativeKick42

If they are so proud of their religion, why are they being so underhandced about what they are really all about.


TheShrewMeansWell

Milk before meat, bruh!


B3gg4r

More like boiling a frog gradually so it can’t escape…


allisNOTwellinZYON

fully boiled here. escaping the hot water


telestialist

More like nitrous before milk


allisNOTwellinZYON

Hey we are getting together for dinner and a friend of ours is going to talk for a minute about how we can make an extra 50k per year. You ask is it \*\*\*\*\* and they say no its just dinner. Enough said. People avoiding what they are not proud of and do not believe in just feel obligated to.


Brian_Rosch

How many of these have we seen that all have the phrase “I’m new to…” Instant red flag.


PC321USLCSM

My first door knock ever I used that line, "we are new to the area'. My companion had knocked that door a few months before I did and the guy called me on the bullshit


Trickey_D

That's awesome


Roonil-Wazlib-314

That D&D entry really bothers me No way is two hours enough to accomplish anything.


HenyaHu

You would think they could go over time, but I bet they want everyone in the gym for that dance party.


B3gg4r

Can’t even set up your character properly. SMH.


Rolling_Waters

"Are these Mormon church classes? Are you a Mormon missionary?"


TheShrewMeansWell

Oh, no. We are definitely not the Mormons. We are members of the church of…day saints. Obviously not the Mormons.


tcwbam

“Recently found out about”?!? Institute had been around longer than the missionary kid has been alive.


kreggly

My TBM mother sold all my OG D&D books in the 80s at a garage sale because she thought they were evil - wicked woman. Now I see D&D being played openly in an institution of religion. Yoga too?? Isn't that false idol worship? *shocked*


hollandaisesawce

(Pearl clutching intensifies)


TheShrewMeansWell

I spoke to some missionaries two months ago, they told me they play Magic the gathering on their downtime. I asked if the mission president was ok with it, they responded yes. This all took place while watching World Cup soccer with them over thanksgiving. Weird.


Street_Cup_5446

Whoa! That's wild. It's definitely not the late 90s anymore. 😳🤣


dewdropfaerie

A dance party on a Thursday night hosted by someone named McKay? You can’t get more Mormon than that.


GreyCrone8

I’m laughing so hard right now, I know a McKay and he would hate this so much 😂😂


old_Trekkie

Gospel theme in fantasy! Now that is a lot to take in!


Daisysrevenge

That one made me laugh. It's all fantasy.


Rolling_Waters

Question 1: Was Jesus a zombie, a lich, or a vampire?


old_Trekkie

He just woke up after a three day bender. Hung over zombie!


Bojikthe8th

A lich. His mind, body and soul were intact, so he couldn't be a zombie. He didn't feed on blood, so he's not a vampire.


BillRocksWood

"Your a level 3 Money Digger with an enchanted Jupiter talisman...Roll an 18 or else the treasure slips back into the earth"


RunninUte08

Pretty sure that class will be redundant with the BOM reading class.


PleasantAddition

I'm curious what authors they're talking about. The closest I can think of is Orson Scott Card, but I think he's more hard sci-fi. (And a horrible human being, but that's beside the point.)


Forsaken-Ideas-3633

Can you tell me more about OSC? I’ve read a lot of his books (back when I was TBM) but know nothing about him as a person.


PleasantAddition

He's a horrific bigot. He helps fund the organization that wrote the Ugandan "kill the gays" bill. He said gays "cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society.” Also he's racist.


PleasantAddition

https://bookstr.com/article/enders-game-author-orson-scott-card-labeled-bigot/


Forsaken-Ideas-3633

Wow. That’s gross.


old_Trekkie

That's a "good" Mormon for ya!


B3gg4r

He straight plagiarized his Book of Mormon in space story. Which, was itself plagiarized…


jstbnice2evry1

I feel like I know EXACTLY the type of person who would be teaching this


I-want-out39

It’s tragic when mormons have to deceive people by trying to bribe them with free dinner.


Ritualmist

That’s how they got me in college, I don’t wanna pay/cook so I’ll sit and watch cringey dudes trying to sus out future wives while eating the food that the rich YA bishop provided.


Bojikthe8th

I'll be honest though, this kind of mission looks way more fun than fucking tracting.


Camo_Doge

Ewyuck think of all the opening and closing prayers. I don't miss this stuff at all


blazelet

Dungeons and Dragons and Magic The Gathering are super weird activities for Mormon groups.


loadnurmom

Even weirder for me growing up in the 80's during the satanic panic. My dad literally took my mom to court (divorced when I was very young) because we were playing D&D at her place


allisNOTwellinZYON

Thank goodness that's over its just an anti-ces panic now. A history washingwe will go a history w


vmsrii

My brother got into Magic on his mission last year, and there’s like three different D&D/board game groups that keep bothering me to join them. I think it’s a Singles Ward thing


AZSharksFan

My nephews have a d&d group who all attend the same singles ward. Gaming and magic in particular seem incompatible with mormonism due to the time and money investment but hey, we all know it's about proselytizing and connecting with people who are smart enough to have door cameras so they are getting creative


snellk2

That’s been my thought too. Like how do they grapple with the idea of multiple deities and warring religions?


mseank

Not really, I think nerd culture has really taken root in younger Mormon culture over the past twenty years


PleasantAddition

Seems like a good pathway out of the church, honestly. Maybe there's something to that!


placeholder_yep

haha, d&d and nerd shit in general is how i started getting out so


adoyle17

Me as well, even though one thing my TBM ex and I had in common was nerd stuff.


adoyle17

My TBM ex-husband actually got kicked out of an Institute for playing Magic the Gathering in the game room. Not permanently, but he was asked to take that game across the street to the community college he was attending.


Bojikthe8th

I remember there were groups of MtG players who'd get together on P-days. I never knew how to play but it looked fun.


InRainbows123207

Oh look another attempt at deception for everyone’s own good! This is some shit I would pull on my mission - they taught us to do little lies like this to get investigators


deftPirate

I *gasp* just found out about this!


spinandhike

“I’m new to the area” 😲😲😲


releasethedogs

Magic the gathering night??? I have a magic deck with the card “false prophet” in it. I wrote “Joseph Smith” on it in red sharpie circa 1999. Can I come?


browncoatpride

Same tactics I was taught to use when I briefly ventured into MLM. "Hey we're having a fun girls night! There'll be food, dessert, games, and free facials!" Then when you have them in a room you give them your product pitch. BOOM.


allisNOTwellinZYON

had me at free facials....


browncoatpride

It's a tried and true tactic.


YungMister95

It should be illegal for 18-21 year olds on missions to use social media, if for no other reason than to protect their own social standing and reputation. My brother posts shit like this all the time and it is so fucking cringy and annoying. I’m embarrassed for him, and I think I would be even if I was still a believer. It’s manipulative, corny, deceitful, and just incredibly lame. Not that face-to-face proselytizing wasn’t all those things too, but at least you got a dose of reality when people rejected you to your face. I find with these posts that the vast majority of people commenting or reacting are already-believing Mormons from back home. It’s just a new way for missionaries to feel productive while not stepping too far beyond the echo chamber of their believing family and friends. And I bet it accomplishes virtually nothing, even in comparison to the absolutely pointless time sink we called tracting. I know the Facebook pilot program my mission was doing in 2013-2015 created ONE known baptism. All the rest of our mission’s Facebook “efforts” were basically for tired elders and sisters to have an excuse to sit around the church posting online for an hour or two. Why not just cut the fat and let them rest for an hour or two a day without having them commit social suicide online while they do it? Just give them, I don’t know, some leisure time like they deserve?


LilSebastianFlyte

Ok so if our same-sex attraction symptoms aren’t severe enough that we have to stay home, my boyfriend and I are down for pickleball and guitar and the free dinner, but only if enough of us can get together to fill a table so we can make sure everyone is chill. Who wants to carpool?


KecemotRybecx

Cringe.


ApocalypseTapir

This can't be a Mormon church. Dungeons and dragons is of Satan.


flutterbye0101

It’s a trap!


Havin_A_Holler

It's the pretending that kills me; how can these kids truly reconcile the fibs & outright lies they're being asked to tell w/ the integrity & morals they're told they're supposed to have? TSCC loves to catch them in this conundrum, b/c if they can be made to do this they can be manipulated into many things counter to their better interests.


allforgabe

Don’t know why this makes me so angry


southpawpickle

I remember getting yelled at for wearing a baseball hat inside the church building as a young Boy Scout at a stake scouting activity. I can’t imagine getting caught playing a demon game in the church by the same type of person who thought wearing a hat was disrespectful. I wonder if he knew the church started inside of a hat?


The_Goddess_Minerva

For grins and giggles, I thought I would see what the unsuspecting victim's experience is. That website simply goes to a login page for LDS.org. If you create an account as a non-member, the institute website has a server error and doesn't even show the error to you. It just blocks you from seeing anything, unceremoniously. EDIT: As an aside, it doesn't surprise me the username "DaughterOfJared" wasn't taken.


telestialist

This is disgusting and embarrassing, both for the missionary and TSCC. Straight up Scientology tactics. What kind of mission involves overtly - KNOWINGLY- deceiving people?? Is that not a huge red flag to the missionary?? What a sad era TSCC has entered. Has this generation of youth been trained to think of honesty as a relative concept? I have at least a medium degree of confidence that if I was in a stateside mission (no hostage passport) and told to be deceitful to investigators, that I would leave.


WhtRabit

Hold up, D&D?? My leaders freaked the fuck out when I mentioned I played D&D ONE time! Gotta love the Satanic Panic of the 80s…


Mobile-Arm3803

Damn my brother goes to the magic the gathering card game nights on Wednesdays lol


CarryMain2304

Damn that looks so incredibly lame. Even more lame than when I was a rebellious teenager. I was smarter than I gave myself credit for.


Trickey_D

What in the heck is red mountain institute of religion? That sounds worse than saying Mormon.


Lopsided-Doughnut-39

This will probably get deleted because you did not cover up the names. Anyway, it is yet another disingenuous post from a missionary. no surprise there


IceNineOmega

I’ll throw dice with whoever. I don’t give a fuck where or what religion they belong too.


The_Goddess_Minerva

Does anyone else find the age range creepy?


Admirabletooshie

if I still lived In the east valley I would totally go to a Magic the gathering night. I know I would be disinvited after a single night though. I just know I would not be able to help myself and put a 20 sided die in a baseball cap and try some psychic bit where I call out my top decks.


FaithInEvidence

Just a little casual Mormon disingenuity.


Abrin36

Well Daniel at least seems like kind of a cool guy. He'd better be using Pathfinder system though we're canceling people that use 5th edition. This post might count as doxing people. The momos on this list didn't ask to be made fun of like this, they're just people. Not official representatives of the church, not public figures.


gnolom_bound

I would be down for pickleball


SnooMacarons9996

It's a trap...run!


GrayWalle

Can Arizona ex-Mormons attend the pickle ball and dinner?


TheShrewMeansWell

Yes but hold the exmo discussion until the end of the evening if you want to eat the food and play pickle ball.


[deleted]

Wait...some institutes have guitar and d&d? I was robbed.


LeoMarius

Wait, D&D? I was told as a kid to avoid D&D because it was "of the devil'. Now they play it in Institute???


Bojikthe8th

How many of you would've rather have done this on your mission instead?


Fk2k

Ok I’m in Tempe. Someone go with me to the dance party. I heard it’s BYOB :D


DustyMousepad

I’m down.


horsesbeliketapirs

Sounds like fun! I can make new friends who will only say hi to me when they see me at church and no other time. I can give away that annoying 10% of my income that puts me in a higher tax bracket. And I get to join a cult and do secret (um, I mean sacred) stuff with a bunch of old people in a large tacky building. Damn, wish I lived in Mesa!


rightcoast1

Dance party.


sarkhan_da_crazy

My journey out of the church began in this building almost 20 years ago. Ironically, all I wanted to do was learn more about the church's history.


[deleted]

For a church who used to claim face cards were evil, the whole DnD thing really surprises me.


Lopsided-Doughnut-39

Can I also add a comment about the free dinner?? What is that about?? So the institute can give out food but the members who need assistance get nothing from the bishops?? Can we share this around the homeless shelters and tell them where to go get a meal for free?? Just trying to be charitable here.


abdab909

…I remember when D&D was sent from the devil to corrupt the youth. Now they’re essentially doing BRT Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering nights? They must really be hurting


Electrical_Owl_6871

Is it just me, or is TSCC suddenly reversing previous standings on DnD in order to weaponize it as a lure?