LDS missionaries at your door - how do you kindly reject?

[Hoggirl]

If an LDS missionary comes to your door, and you do not have an interest in hearing what they have to say, what do you say to them? Do you offer them food or water? What is the proper protocol if you are not interested in becoming LDS, but you don't want to be "mean?"

[KS_]

I just tell them I'm not interested, but thanks anyway.

[Parrothead]

I generally say something along the lines of, "Thank you for checking on us. We are happy with our religion. I hope you have a nice day."

 

They won't come in if dh isn't home. And they always show up when he isn't home. I don't want to offer them anything while standing on my porch with Baxter barking at the door. That seems ruder than not offering anything.

[Candid]

Just be polite; I'd be polite to anyone who came to my door: wouldn't buy anything, wouldn't let them in, but polite: "I'm not interested," close the door.

[Amira]

Yes, a simple "No, thank you," is fine, and then close the door.

 

My nephew is a missionary in Texas right now, and while he's always delighted when someone wants to talk to him when he knocks on a door, he certainly doesn't expect anything from anyone.

[2_girls_mommy]

The last time that I met some LDS missionaries on my street I chatted with them kindly, and told them I was a United Methodist and my friend with whom I was chatting was a Baptist. We weren't looking for a new church.

 

The boys understood and still chatted some more about the weather and their travels. I thought it was interesting conversation. Where they were from (Las Vegas) they said anyone they met was either nothing (non religious) or LDS. They were unprepared for meeting so many of different faiths.

[kalanamak]

but polite: "I'm not interested," close the door.

 

:iagree:However, aside from people who cut you off in traffic, this is the hardest moment for me to be polite.

[Desert Rat]

With LDS, I just say, "No thanks. Have a good day."

With JW, I take the pamphlet and say thank you.

I've learned to stop engaging missionaries. I don't tell them my religious orientation and I don't say anything about theirs. They have strong convictions. That's fine. I just want to carry on with whatever I was doing. My responses are the quickest way to get that done.

[Rhonda in TX]

I just say, as pleasantly as possible, "I'm very happy with my current church and am not looking for anything else." I try to keep in mind that they are doing what they believe is right and helpful. They are never rude or pushy. I don't offer them anything, but if they had come to my door last summer in the midst of our horrendous heat, I would probably have offered them some bottled water.

[Julie Smith]

Keep a housecoat by the front door.

When they come knocking throw in on top of your clothes.

They will say, "Oh sorry, I see you are busy." and leave.

 

(At least this happened to me once. I was cold so put a housecoat on over my clothes. Since it was a big housecoat you couldn't see my clothes)

[Xuzi]

Keep a housecoat by the front door.

When they come knocking throw in on top of your clothes.

They will say, "Oh sorry, I see you are busy." and leave.

 

(At least this happened to me once. I was cold so put a housecoat on over my clothes. Since it was a big housecoat you couldn't see my clothes)

 

LOL! That reminds me of my cousin who was a missionary in the South. He had a lady open the door stark naked! I guess she wanted a quick and easy way to be put on the "do not knock" list. :tongue_smilie:

[Farrar]

They have a mission church in our neighborhood and the couple times they've come, they were very polite and easily put off - though I'm pretty sure I'm not their target demographic. The JW's are a bit more persistent - one once did not want to leave even though I had TWO screaming babies and was in my pajamas - I just had to close the door on him.

[Mrs Mungo]

I do the same with LDS and JW missionaries. I say, "no thanks, we already have a church," and I close the door. For that matter, I do the same thing with sales people except for the church part. ;)

[Ellie]

"Thanks so much, but we're not interested." Big smile as I close the door. :)

[dangermom]

My husband was always grateful for a straightforward and polite "No, thank you, we're not interested." It was a zillion times better than the people who didn't want to say no, so would ask them to come back later and then make sure not to be home.

 

LDS missionaries are looking for people who are interested. If you're not, they don't want to waste your time and theirs.

[Night Elf]

It never occurred to me to offer them something. I would certainly do so if I invited them in, but not just for being on my doorstep. I don't think it's rude not to offer something.

 

I just tell them I'm really happy with my church. They are always very pleasant and tell me that's wonderful and then ask if they can leave their information with me in case I would like to read it. I've never had anyone be unpleasant just because I'm not interested.

 

ETA: sorry, I just realized you were referring to LDS. I don't think I've had any personal experience with them, only JW. But still, very pleasant people!

Edited February 9, 2012 by Night Elf

[Lightly Salted]

I usually tell them that my DH is a Baptist minister, that we share and appreciate their concern for sharing their religious beliefs with their neighbors, but that we are not likely to agree with them doctrinally, so I won't take their literature. I then wish them a good afternoon (or whatever) and send them off with a smile. We've always had amicable partings, and usually get fewer visits in each place where we've lived.

 

I've heard all sorts of mean-spirited ways to 'get rid of them' but do NOT want to say "I'm a Christian" and then act ugly - what kind of example would that be?

[Hoggirl]

With JW, I take the pamphlet and say thank you.

 

Around here if you take a pamphlet from a JW they continue to come back. I have definitely found I have to be firm with them.

 

I only offered the LDS boys some water yesterday. They politely said, "No thank you." I guess I feel bad for them b/c I don't really know how their missionary travels work. Do they have LDS families with whom they stay when traveling? Where do they get food/money/shelter?? I mean, they are certainly always well-dressed and well-groomed so I don't imagine they are living on the streets!

[LittleIzumi]

Around here if you take a pamphlet from a JW they continue to come back. I have definitely found I have to be firm with them.

 

I only offered the LDS boys some water yesterday. They politely said, "No thank you." I guess I feel bad for them b/c I don't really know how their missionary travels work. Do they have LDS families with whom they stay when traveling? Where do they get food/money/shelter?? I mean, they are certainly always well-dressed and well-groomed so I don't imagine they are living on the streets!

 

It's different in each mission but their finances are set up before they go so they can eat and have places to sleep. They are often fed at member's houses for dinner (voluntarily) and stay in the places appropriate for the mission. (Hubby was in Cali and they stayed with members, while my brother and father went on missions overseas and stayed in small shared apartments with other missionaries.) I'm sure they GREATLY appreciate your politeness and honesty.

[Julie in Austin]

I guess I feel bad for them b/c I don't really know how their missionary travels work. Do they have LDS families with whom they stay when traveling? Where do they get food/money/shelter?? I mean, they are certainly always well-dressed and well-groomed so I don't imagine they are living on the streets!

 

They live in an apartment (usually) or maybe a spare room in an LDS member's home. They pay their own way--I believe about 400/mo now--that they (or their parents) earn before they start their missions. They are called to a general area (say, the Austin-San Antonio area) and then might move around from town to town every few months within that area.

[MrsBasil]

As an aside, I put up a homemade no soliciting sign with smaller print asking people to not ring our bell or leave fliers.

 

Have not had a single salesperson or missionary of any stripe stop by. Only a boy scout collecting food for a food drive and he was a little young to be a fluent reader. ;)

 

I did this after a True Green Lawn salesperson called me a b*tch when I politely said I wasn't interested before he could begin his spiel.

 

Best decision ever. I've even had salespeople and JW missionaries turn around and apologize for the interruption while the kids and I were outside.

[EKS]

I finally told the JW folks that kept coming by that we were Jewish (which is only partially true) and I've never seen them again.

[akmommy]

Around here if you take a pamphlet from a JW they continue to come back. I have definitely found I have to be firm with them.

:iagree:

Yep, it only encourages them.

 

We've only ever had one pair of LDS missionaries at our door. They were very polite and we ended up having them in for a great conversation. They knew we were a dead end by the end of it though and never returned.

[rafiki]

Put up a "No Soliciting" sign. I'm sorry, but between missionaries, politicians, people selling things, and kid's fund raisers, our family life was being disturbed.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

I try to be polite. Usually a sweet "we're happy at our current church" does the trick. Once though, I did see the pair of them (can't remember if it was JW or LDS) shake the dust off their feet - literally - at the end of my driveway. :lol: That still cracks me up.

[frugalmama]

When I open the door my faith is pretty apparent, and I just normally say I'm not interested.

[6packofun]

I've said, "Well, I am happy with my church and I believe very strongly in Sola Scriptura--that creates a gap between our beliefs that will never be bridged, but thank you for stopping by." Once they said that it wasn't a divide we could rectify and I simply said, "It is. Thanks, goodbye." I'm always polite and yet don't allow the conversation to go very far because I'm just busy!

[usetoschool]

My daughter is on a mission right now and told us a story in her letter last week. They were going door to door, which they only really do when they don't have anything else to do, no appointments and such, and came across this guy who said, the second he opened the door, that he didn't have time to talk to them. He then proceeded to talk to them for 1/2 an hour about how their church was not right and they were going to h&!!, interspersed, about every 2 minutes with "I don't have time to talk to you right now". They kept TRYING to leave and he wouldn't let them :001_huh::lol:. It really was a waste of their time (and his).

 

The week before they had a man order a Book of Mormon online. The missionaries deliver it. If you just want to read, fine, they do not need to stay and chat. If you want to talk fine, but otherwise they are happy to just drop it off and leave. Well, apparently he only ordered it so he could argue with them. They stood in his drive-way, trying to leave without being rude, while he lectured them. My daughter is soooooooo non-confrontational that she and her companion couldn't even find a good way to get away.

 

So, long story to say, if you are not interested, really, just say so. It is toootally fine. Not offended AT ALL.

 

As far as the specifics of their life - the president of the mission and his office staff find the living quarters. Usually it is an apartment with hand me down furniture from the local members. Our missionaries, here in town, live in the mother-in-law house in the back of someone's property. They can live with members but my son (who just returned in August) said they have to have their own private entrance and bathroom. We pay $400 into the Church funds each month and that money is used to pay her rent and utilities and provided food. Many missionaries drive a car owned by the church and have a gas card and strict rules about mileage and amount of gas they can use. They bring their own clothes and pack them around in a suitcase for two years. I have mailed things to her, like a raincoat that she didn't think she would need when she left. There is a hierarchy of stewardship with district leaders, zone leaders, mission president etc so they are never on their own. All of them are missionaries, serving as volunteers, even the adult mission presidency.

[KS_]

As an aside, I put up a homemade no soliciting sign with smaller print asking people to not ring our bell or leave fliers.

 

Have not had a single salesperson or missionary of any stripe stop by. Only a boy scout collecting food for a food drive and he was a little young to be a fluent reader. ;)

 

 

I have a No Soliciting Please sign, but it doesn't stop the LDS missionaries.

[ThatCyndiGirl]

I have a No Soliciting Please sign, but it doesn't stop the LDS missionaries.

 

Here either. I say, "I am not interested and you are trespassing. Do not bother me again and please tell the office to put me on the DON'T YOU DARE DISTURB HER LIST!!"

 

I tried sweet and gentle and polite. It just doesn't work. Apparently some groups are taught to be extremely, arrogantly, annoyingly persistent! :glare:

[Maus]

A simple, polite, "No, thank you" or, "No, thank you, I'm not interested" should do it for LDS missionaries. We were trained to politely move on.

 

Mentioning that you are of another faith isn't necessarily a deterrent, unless coupled with the above. People of other faiths do get interested and do convert just as often, if not more so, than people who currently don't have a faith. And so many people who say, "I'm _____" don't actually practice that faith; it's just what their grandparents/parents were, so they identify with it.

 

LOL! That reminds me of my cousin who was a missionary in the South. He had a lady open the door stark naked! I guess she wanted a quick and easy way to be put on the "do not knock" list. :tongue_smilie:

:lol: Okay, that brought back unpleasant visual memories! I served my mission in Europe (Austria), and while I never personally saw anyone stark naked (others reported they did), I did see far too many 70-year-old, overweight men come to the door in nothing but speedo-type underpants. (Considerably smaller than tighty-whitys! :ohmy::blush:)

 

They have a mission church in our neighborhood and the couple times they've come, they were very polite and easily put off - though I'm pretty sure I'm not their target demographic. ...

Not important, just a little curious, because we don't have anything that we would call (or could even describe as) a mission church. It could be the local LDS chapel, where members that live in your city attend. (Missionaries attend church with the locals, and sometimes are given a key by the local bishop so they can use the building if needed.) Or the mission office, which is just that: an office, with a conference room, several offices for the mission president and his staff, often a supply room, sometimes a "mail" room, of sorts. (Parents often send care packages and other slow moving type mail to the office, so it doesn't have to be forwarded if their son/daughter got transferred to another city in the meantime.) Less likely, but it could be the mission home, which is literally the mission president's home. The missionaries are sometimes invited to dinner there for special occasions. (In my mission, to keep the rent down, the mission home and the mission office were different floors of the same huge house. The main floor was the office, the upper two were the president's home, and the basement had a small apartment where two of the staff lived.)

[Forget-Me-Not]

 

:lol: Okay, that brought back unpleasant visual memories! I served my mission in Europe (Austria), and while I never personally saw anyone stark naked (others reported they did), I did see far too many 70-year-old, overweight men come to the door in nothing but speedo-type underpants. (Considerably smaller than tighty-whitys! :ohmy::blush:)

 

Not important, just a little curious, because we don't have anything that we would call (or could even describe as) a mission church.

 

I was curious about that phrase too?

 

My husband served in Finland and had his share of naked door-answers. He says they'd get belligerent about it too: "Why are you knocking on my door? Can't you see I'm naked?" He was always baffled as to why they even OPENED the door in the first place.

[KungFuPanda]

I tell them that I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. :D. Then, I offer them a beer and a lap dance. Since there are two of them, they run off together. This is WHY they go out in pairs.

 

KIDDING!

 

I tell them no thank you and generally something about the weather (nice day for a walk, stay warm, or drink lots of water). I've offered water, but they're always packing their own, so someone must have raised them right. :001_smile: I keep forgetting to put up a no soliciting sign :glare: I've been known to HIDE from the JWs, because they think "no thank you" is some sort of challenge.

[ThatCyndiGirl]

:lol: Okay, that brought back unpleasant visual memories! I served my mission in Europe (Austria), and while I never personally saw anyone stark naked (others reported they did), I did see far too many 70-year-old, overweight men come to the door in nothing but speedo-type underpants. (Considerably smaller than tighty-whitys! :ohmy::blush:)

 

 

As a related aside....At our father's funeral my brother leaned over and said,"See that couple over there? The ones who look like a Far Side drawing? They are nudists. Isn't it just always the ones you would NEVER EVER wanna see naked who turn out to be nudists?!?!!" :lol:

[dangermom]

I have a No Soliciting Please sign, but it doesn't stop the LDS missionaries.

 

They might not understand that soliciting means missionaries too (they are about 19-20). You could add a note with a sharpie or tell them to let the other missionaries know that soliciting covers missionary work too.

[Desert Rat]

LOL! That reminds me of my cousin who was a missionary in the South. He had a lady open the door stark naked! I guess she wanted a quick and easy way to be put on the "do not knock" list. :tongue_smilie:

 

:blush: Dh has done this. Many years ago and we were living in apartments. And it was crazy early on a Saturday, like maybe 7:30-8:00?. We never got another knock while we were there.

 

So, it's not urban legend. :lol::lol::lol:

[myfunnybunch]

I smile and say, "I'm not able to talk right now." Usually they ask if there is another time they can return, and I say, "No thank you. Have a nice day." :) They are always very polite at the door, and they don't come back.

 

Cat

[2_girls_mommy]

 

Mentioning that you are of another faith isn't necessarily a deterrent... People of other faiths do get interested and do convert just as often, if not more so, than people who currently don't have a faith. And so many people who say, "I'm _____" don't actually practice that faith; it's just what their grandparents/parents were, so they identify with it.

 

 

 

This is good to know. I never thought of that.

[gardenmom5]

:iagree:However, aside from people who cut you off in traffic, this is the hardest moment for me to be polite.

:confused: why? I guess I don't understand why when someone comes to the door it's hard to just say "no thanks". (aside from some little kid selling wrapping paper no one will ever use - I hate school fundraisers!)

[Melinda in VT]

:confused: why? I guess I don't understand why when someone comes to the door it's hard to just say "no thanks". (aside from some little kid selling wrapping paper no one will ever use - I hate school fundraisers!)

 

For me it's because home is a pleasant refuge and I dislike strangers barging in and trying to sell me something in my space.

 

Neighbors (even ones I haven't yet met) stopping by to say hi? Great! Friends popping in unexpectedly? Great!

 

People selling something (whether it be religion, service, or a tangible good)? Rude! And annoying!

 

(The one exception is girl scouts selling cookies. I don't turn them away.)

 

Now, just because I find door-to-door anything rude, that doesn't mean I am rude back. I don't yell, or swear, or slam the door. But I also don't go out of my way to be friendly. It's my home. They are the ones coming in uninvited.

[ma23peas]

Oh me, we talk to them...invite them in...not so much luck with JWs...it's almost as if they're just fulfilling their 'duty' to hit so many houses with their jargon...as long as they do all the talking, they stay, but the minute you start conversing with them..they excuse themselves....honestly, they can't answer the easy questions!

[stripe]

I have never had a Mormon talk to me. Ever! Even when I was in college, they actually would look the other way and ignore me as I went past. It was totally hilarious.

 

Jehovah's Witnesses come periodically. Once a year or less frequently. Both at my parents' house and in various places since leaving their home. Sometimes In the past I have taken their material. The last JW who came just wanted to give me material in other languages. He seemed unhappy that I didn't want them and didn't offer anything in English but I'm a native English speaker, so...

 

I think if uninterested, politely declining is best. No need to shout or swear, and no need to invite them in.

 

I did see a very religious non-JW neighbor who invited the JW ladies in one time. They were there for a while. I figured that was fair.

[Ibbygirl]

Oh me, we talk to them...invite them in...not so much luck with JWs...it's almost as if they're just fulfilling their 'duty' to hit so many houses with their jargon...as long as they do all the talking, they stay, but the minute you start conversing with them..they excuse themselves....honestly, they can't answer the easy questions!

 

The JW that come to my house will get into heated debates with my husband. Dh will tell them that he is not interested and like a previous poster said, it's almost like a challenge to them. I've never seen dh get away from a JW in less than a half an hour, often it's a lot longer than that. Just a couple of weekends ago they came and I was still sleeping. DH opened the door and I could hear his voice from outside and after awhile the man he was talking to started shouting and getting really heated and eventually stalked off.

 

When DH came back inside I asked him what he did to make the man so mad. He said nothing, that he was actually really polite, but put challenging questions to the man and he suspected that the man's wife was newer in the faith because she didn't have answers to his questions and he thinks that's why he got so mad and stormed off.

 

The LDS missionaries I've had are very persistent too. They kept trying to come in the house and I told them that I do not invite people I don't know into my house and they just kept trying and trying to get inside. I don't know why they wanted in my house so badly, but I had to keep telling them that they couldn't come in. It was kinda weird actually. :confused:

[Nakia]

In 13 years of living here, I haven't had any LDS visitors and only one JW visitor. The JW was a young man who had an older gentleman kind of standing "in the background" while the younger guy spoke to me. He was very very polite and asked if it would be okay to leave his pamphlet and come back when my husband was home. I told him it would be fine, but he never returned. He wasn't pushy at all.

 

 

[Maus]

I have a No Soliciting Please sign, but it doesn't stop the LDS missionaries.

Because they think you've been subjected to too many meat salesman lately!:D

 

Seriously, though, in most communities religious organizations are legally exempt from "no soliciting" laws. Try "no trespassing," or get a "no proselyting" sign made. Keep in mind, though, that your posting of any of the signs doesn't change the local ordinances. (If it's legal in your community, it's legal even with your sign. If it's illegal in your community, it's illegal even if you didn't post a sign.) (See http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=16431).

 

When I was a missionary, (and I think most missionaries think this way), I assumed "no soliciting" meant "no salesman" and I didn't give them a second thought. I never went to a door that said "no trespassing," though. We really did try to respect people's wishes (despite the law being on our side), we just didn't understand "no soliciting" to mean us. Possibly because here in Utah, church people come to our door all the time, and we don't intend to exclude them when we post signs.

 

Here either. I say, "I am not interested and you are trespassing. Do not bother me again and please tell the office to put me on the DON'T YOU DARE DISTURB HER LIST!!"

 

I tried sweet and gentle and polite. It just doesn't work. Apparently some groups are taught to be extremely, arrogantly, annoyingly persistent! :glare:

The mission office doesn't keep lists. Often, each companionship does, so you shouldn't see the same set again. If they leave their notes behind, and if the next set of missionaries moves in to the same apartment, you won't see them again for quite a while. If there is more than one set in your city, they won't necessarily have coordinated their efforts or shared their notes.

 

Try again just saying, "No, thanks. I'm not interested."

 

In the Missionary Training Center, missionaries are taught to be polite. Just like any large group, you will get a few individuals for whom the instruction doesn't take. Please don't judge the group by those few individuals.

 

I will admit that a certain amount of persistence is taught. It is human nature to turn down everything initially, and many of the missionaries' best contacts brushed them off at first. So many, bolder than I ever was, missionaries will say something like, "Would another time be better?" after your initial, "No, thanks." If they do, just say, "No, I'm really not interested." There is no way to distinguish those who really don't want to talk to you from those who just are doing the instinctive brush off without asking the second question. It should not take three "no's" like the phone salesmen have to get, though.

Edited February 9, 2012 by Maus
found the link I couldn't think of before

[Impish]

I go w/ "No thank you." to start.

 

I haven't had an issue w/LDS Missionaries, but have w/other religious groups pushing after. Demanding to know why. Asking if I have faith. And on, and on, and on.

 

I've had to inform ppl that if they show up again, I would have them charged w/tresspassing.

 

*sigh*

[Scarlett]

:glare:

 

And that is all I have to say about that.

[gardenmom5]

I only offered the LDS boys some water yesterday. !

thank you for offering the water. My son is getting ready to leave, and it will be a "hot/humid" summer area. He plans on taking a camelback for water.

 

I try to be polite. Usually a sweet "we're happy at our current church" does the trick. Once though, I did see the pair of them (can't remember if it was JW or LDS) shake the dust off their feet - literally - at the end of my driveway. :lol: That still cracks me up.

probably not LDS missionaries. eta: I've had "missionaries" come to my door who were neither LDS or JW. Those are pretty rare though.

 

 

:lol: Okay, that brought back unpleasant visual memories! I served my mission in Europe (Austria), and while I never personally saw anyone stark naked (others reported they did), I did see far too many 70-year-old, overweight men come to the door in nothing but speedo-type underpants. (Considerably smaller than tighty-whitys! :ohmy::blush:)

 

.)

eeewwww. Oh, my eyes. I personally think speedo bathing suits should be illegal. just, eeewww.:eek: (for racing is a different thing. though some top swimmers are starting wear full body suits to cut drag in the water.) dh's bil wear's one. I try to avoid swimming at the same time as him.

 

My husband served in Finland and had his share of naked door-answers. He says they'd get belligerent about it too: "Why are you knocking on my door? Can't you see I'm naked?" He was always baffled as to why they even OPENED the door in the first place.

go to france. "no one's home." from somewhere in the depths of the house.

 

They might not understand that soliciting means missionaries too (they are about 19-20). You could add a note with a sharpie or tell them to let the other missionaries know that soliciting covers missionary work too.

:iagree: these are generally still fairly young boys. 19 - 20 - who may well not even be familiar with the term let alone that it applies to them. I know some who have the "no solicitor sign" simply point to it when someone (even the "meat" guy. or the kirby guy.) comes and close the door. 19-20 year old boys can still be pretty clueless. They don't mean to be offensively pushy, they just don't. get. it.

 

 

 

For me it's because home is a pleasant refuge and I dislike strangers barging in and trying to sell me something in my space.

 

Neighbors (even ones I haven't yet met) stopping by to say hi? Great! Friends popping in unexpectedly? Great!

 

People selling something (whether it be religion, service, or a tangible good)? Rude! And annoying!

 

(The one exception is girl scouts selling cookies. I don't turn them away.)

 

Now, just because I find door-to-door anything rude, that doesn't mean I am rude back. I don't yell, or swear, or slam the door. But I also don't go out of my way to be friendly. It's my home. They are the ones coming in uninvited.

My question wasn't why someone dislikes door-to-door salesmen, the question was why was it hard to say "no thanks, not interested" and then just close the door? I get soliciters from time to time. I say "no thanks", they leave. I don't get worked up about it.

 

The one "claiming" to be doing a fundraiser that he "claimed" I gave to last year did tick me off. The 'voter registration' people (who were also pushing their favored candidate) following me around my yard (I was working outside) after being told to go away, did tick me off. the salesman sticking his foot in the door so I couldn't close it really ticked me off. (I was a teen and not nearly as assertive as I would be now.)

 

someone coming to my door, and leaving when I tell them I'm not interested isn't worth getting worked-up about.

Edited February 9, 2012 by gardenmom5

[stripe]

eeewwww. Oh, my eyes. I personally think speedo bathing suits should be illegal. just, eeewww.:eek: (for racing is a different thing. though some top swimmers are starting wear full body suits to cut drag in the water.) dh's bil wear's one. I try to avoid swimming at the same time as him.

 

:tongue_smilie: Since it wasn't at a pool, I'm thinking they're brief underpants.

[KS_]

Because they think you've been subjected to too many meat salesman lately!:D

 

Seriously, though, in most communities religious organizations are legally exempt from "no soliciting" laws. Try "no trespassing," or get a "no proselyting" sign made. Keep in mind, though, that your posting of any of the signs doesn't change the local ordinances. (If it's legal in your community, it's legal even with your sign. If it's illegal in your community, it's illegal even if you didn't post a sign.) (See http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=16431).

 

When I was a missionary, (and I think most missionaries think this way), I assumed "no soliciting" meant "no salesman" and I didn't give them a second thought. I never went to a door that said "no trespassing," though. We really did try to respect people's wishes (despite the law being on our side), we just didn't understand "no soliciting" to mean us. Possibly because here in Utah, church people come to our door all the time, and we don't intend to exclude them when we post signs.

 

I'm not bothered by it enough (usually) to change the sign - we live in an area where there are always missionaries and mostly get them stopping by again when the new ones move in and start making the rounds.