Any Mormons out there? I have a question.

[BreastmilkDoesAFabLatte]

I'll preface this by saying that I very sincerely respect your faith and your church, and invariably invite your missionaries in for (herbal) tea and a discussion about the nature of priestly authority and mystical experience.

But is it really considered acceptable practice for your missionaries to stand at the entrance to hospitals? I was accosted by two of them today and I didn't want to be rude and tell them to piss off but they were just so unhelpful.

If a woman is walking into a hospital looking stressed, a gentle 'are you OK?' might work better than a booming 'have you every heard of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints?' and a copy of the book of Mormon waved in her face.

I'm educated. Of course I've heard of it. But had they heard where I was going? No.

I'd be interested to know how missionaries are trained and what protocols/guidelines there are.

Hmmm.... That is generally not acceptable and it wouldn't impress me either. Whereabouts in the country are you? I do think think it should maybe be explained to them that at the doors to a hospital is not really the best place to try and talk to
people. They do sometimes talk to people when they are walking places.

Thanks. Generally, I think stopping people on the street if they're just shopping is alright. But on the way in to a real horrible hospital appointment, I didn't need that.

I've found their local bishop on the mormon.org website - do you think he'd be receptive to me giving him a ring and voicing my concerns?

Wouldn't they have to be part of the hospital chaplaincy?