NEWS FEATURE: Mormon Missionary Women Evangelize With a Feminine Touch

c. 2005 Religion News Service BRIGHTON, Mass. _ On a mid-winter afternoon, a pair of female Mormon missionaries walked around Harvard Square in the midst of Harvard University. Surrounded by cafes, bookstores and newsstands, their eyes strained between their hats and scarves to find someone willing to stop and talk. During a single hour, they […]

c. 2005 Religion News Service

BRIGHTON, Mass. _ On a mid-winter afternoon, a pair of female Mormon missionaries walked around Harvard Square in the midst of Harvard University. Surrounded by cafes, bookstores and newsstands, their eyes strained between their hats and scarves to find someone willing to stop and talk. During a single hour, they approached six people with a fairly standard script.

“My name is Sister Crawford,” said D’Andrea Crawford. “I’m Sister Brown,” Ashley Brown followed.


“Do you currently attend church?” Crawford asked.

Alicia Platt, 26, a Catholic who attends St. Francis Church in Cambridge, Mass., accepted a book of Mormon from the sisters.

“I’ll read it,” she replied twice, shivering.

Many people have seen a pair of male Mormon missionary elders trekking through North American cities. Fewer have sighted their female counterparts, the sisters. That’s because The Latter-Day Saints community holds high expectations for men to go on missions but missionary work for Mormon women is considered more of a personal choice.

“We know how important the family is,” Brown said, explaining why fewer females become missionaries, “and so is our main role _ to be a mother.”

Single women make up 18 percent of the entire 56,000 worldwide missionary force. Seventy-five percent of LDS missionaries are single men and the remaining 7 percent are married couples, most of them retirees.

Out of the nearly 12 million Mormons worldwide, 53 percent are female, according to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints’ Web site. Men proselytize between the ages of 19 and 26 for two years. Women may do a missionary term between the ages of 21 and 30.

Sisters D’Andrea Crawford, 24, and Ashley Brown, 21, realized the importance of speaking to a world they saw as remiss in its spirituality. They delayed their marital pursuits and education for an engagement in religious matters, as Mormon women have done since 1898. They will return home after 18 months in Massachusetts.

Mormon women who pursue a mission consider it a serious venture. “The sisters hit the ground running,” said Elder Jason Brocksome, 21, at a Friday-morning meeting. Many elders consider the women better teachers.

Crawford, whose father is Puerto Rican and mother African-American, hoped her mission would be in a Spanish-speaking country, but was sent 16 months ago to Massachusetts instead. “However, I knew that it was going to be wherever the Lord needed me,” she said.


While Brown, from southern Utah, says her family heritage extends back to the days of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, Crawford hails from a Baptist family in Memphis, Tenn. She converted in 1998 at age 18.

Crawford’s older sister, a Mormon, assessed Crawford as spiritually wayward. She called up a couple of male missionaries from Idaho to visit her.

“They would come on Tuesday nights,” Crawford said. “And Tuesday nights was my clubbing night.” She told them to return another time, which they did. After some time, she became convinced of their message. “The timing was right for me.”

Once Crawford had converted, she felt called to missionary work. “Because of the examples of the missionaries,” she said.

Brown had never planned to go on missions, she said, but changed her mind after seeing the effect of sharing the gospel with a friend.

Both women filled out forms, underwent medical examinations and interviewed with ecclesiastical heads during a several-month application process. Leaders (Apostles) in Salt Lake City accept or reject a potential candidate and choose the location of the mission.


These sisters now share a two-bedroom apartment in Brighton, Mass., with another pair of sisters who work with the Hispanic community.

Crawford acts as Brown’s missionary trainer, since Brown arrived a month ago. Each day, they stick to a structured schedule. From 6 until 8 a.m. they exercise _ Crawford stretches and Brown does Pilates _ shower and eat breakfast at their desks. For the next hour, they study the Bible, the book of Mormon and Church lessons. After this, they work with their teammate on outreach plans for the day. They pray, recite memory verses and sing hymns to demarcate the end of their time together.

The sisters mainly target singles brought by other Mormons to their church in Cambridge, Mass. In long skirts and coats, they travel by bus or subway to their daily appointments from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m., their curfew.

Mormon missionaries say they preach the gospel of Jesus Christ that was lost after the death of Jesus’ apostles in the first century and restored by Joseph Smith in America in 1830. They claim the book of Mormon testifies to the restoration.

“We’re here to find those who are prepared to receive the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Crawford said. Baptism confirms the acceptance of Mormon beliefs and entrance into the church. Crawford has seen nine people baptized during her mission.

“Of course, we want people to join the church,” said Brown, “We want them to know the happiness we know.”


That same Friday, the sisters attended a weekly meeting. In a half-circle, the two sisters sat with seven elders. The group discussed a challenging case.

“They’re having trouble because they can’t get him to take the next step,” said one elder about someone they’ve been speaking with. “He says he’s really searching, but he keeps returning to his church (the Church of Christ),” the elder continued, frustrated by this person’s reading of anti-Mormon literature.

With few solutions, they finished up the meeting. Sister Crawford leapt to the front of the room to direct the makeshift choir as they closed with a hymn. An elder played the piano.

Mormons began missionary work in 1844 when 586 missionaries traveled to eight countries. Today, the church reaches out to 165 countries with 337 missions and converts 300,000 per year.

When the sisters return home, Crawford in a few weeks, and Brown in more than a year, they hope to continue their education, eventually marry, and have at least five children.

“When I go home, I will have the same responsibility,” said Crawford about reaching and teaching people. She is sad to leave the mission field. “There’s something about serving a mission faithfully,” Crawford said, “it roots you deeply in what you believe in.”


MO/JL END RNS

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