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Ever since I was a little kid I've wanterd to go on a mission, but now I am having trouble deciding.

Does anyone else think that missionaries are pushy with their investagators? I have a friend that asked me for a BOM, so I gave it to him, but he is not really ready to take the discussions yet. He told me he would ask if he had any questions, but my mom (ward missionary) told our Sisters about it and they are going CRAZY trying to get me to invite him over to take a discussion or something.

I understand how important Missionary Work is, but how much is too much?

Well you know your friend well and the others don't. So really you can make the choice of what to do. The best way I found that was helpful when a friend was investagating is pray for help, pray to know what to do. You can't go wrong with prayer.
Do check up on your friend. Not like every hour or maybe not even every day. But just ask him if he is enjoying the BOM. Sometimes this opens up to gospel topics and makes him more comfortable in talking about the BOM and whatever. I find that my friend was pretty shy in asking questions.
If he asks a question you don't know, its okay to say "I don't really know myself, thats a good question, I'll find out more about it." or something like that.

Just a few things I learned.

Although, I think a discussion is a bit fast, you should invite him YM first so he won't feel awkward around them. Then invite him to church.

Good luck with it. If you choose to go on a mission, that's pretty sweet. I want to serve a mission one day.

Do be wary of the sisters tho. They could scare a away your friend.

And think of it this way....they gave up 2 years of their life to teach others the gospel, wouldn't they be a little enthusisastic about it???

well I know a Jewish girl who lives by me who will probably never join the church because the missionaries would call her everyday to see if she was ready to be baptized, but isn't that just another reason to go on a mission so there will be that many more people that you can teach and not just another pushy missionary

Well, I don't know the whole situation behind this but it reminds me of what happened with my cousin. Me and him have practically grown up together but we just didn't hang out with each other. I still knew him though and the only reason he was taking the missionary discusions was to get baptized. But I knew that once he was baptized he would stop going to church. I voiced my concerns about this and how his reasons weren't pure. I forgot who, but someone told me that it wasn't my decision to make. We were all given our agency to choose for ourselves and not have someone make our choices for us. If someone wanted to be baptized but their intentions weren't pure, do we have the right to deny them the gospel? Besides, it's really up to either the bishop, stake president, or mission president in the baptismal interview to see whether the person should be baptized or not. All I was told to do is be happy for the person. Rejoice that he is interested in the church. Help guide him down the path of righteousness. Pray for him. But deny him something that we all need. Just help him more fully understand what it is that he is seeking.

Speaking of missions/missionaries... I have always wanted to go on a mission too. But right now I don't know if I will be going on one. At first my intentions were to go to get away from everyone. My second intention to go was that RMs have a higher chance of finding a girl in the church than NonRMs did. The third reason was that whether or not people care to admit, there is a lot of presure on age worthy guys to go on a mission and if you don't go you're looked down upon. But then recently I've changed my life around. I've started reading my BOM and I've been praying every night. I know now that the only reasons I should go on a mission is so that I can bring my fellow brothers and sisters into the Lord's gospel. If I went for any other reason other than that then I wouldn't be a true missionary and I'd come home after two years of ineffectiveness. I can't lose myself in the work if the pressures of going in the first place are hindering me. I should go on a mission because I want to go on a mission and not because I'm forced to. The question I'm asking is would a girl fall for me because I'm an RM, or because of the spirit inside of me? I know a lot of girls who say the later but practice the first. I'd just like to know what everyone else thinks.

I totally want to go on a mission as soon as I'm old enough. I want to help as many people as I can find the answers they've been looking for. I agree that you shouldn't be forced to go on a mission because (and this might be just me) when people force you to do something, you don't do it happily as if it was your decision. I hope you can say "Yes I'm going on a mission, and I'm doing it because I want to." I get so excited about being able to help and serve people I don't know. And I think the spirit fills the gap between you and the people you teach because why else would someone let a stranger come in their house and tell them what the truth is?

And if for some reason a person is unable to go on a mission, for health or mental reasons, they shouldn't be looked down upon. If a person didn't go on a mission, but had a strong testimony, I would consider marrying that person. Because it's not their fault they couldn't go. That's why I think whoever can go on a mission should, because there are people who want to go but can't. And I feel so bad for them.

Anyway, good luck! ^-^

Thanks everyone who responded. I don't know what the Lord has in store for me. But I know that he is with me where ever I go and that everything will work out in the end, one way or the other. I get this swelling in my chest when I think about all the lost sheep I can bring back into the fold, but if I don't go on a mission that doesn't mean I'm not a missionary. Before I changed my life around (I'd just like to clarify that I wasn't doing anything against the church. I just wasn't reading and praying. But now I am) I was more afraid of what everyone else would think of me. Now I'm scared about what God will think of me. I want to do everything in my power to make it back to him one day. Mission or no. One thing I see in a lot of RMs is when they lose the faith. More and more of my RM friends are becoming inactive and it makes me sad. That's why I want to go out for all the right reasons and none of the wrong. Anyways... thanks for the listen.

Something in what you, Vinstepula, said struck me. Missionaries are representatives of Christ. Isn't the young women motto "Stand as a witness of Christ at all times, in all places?" I see a lot of Christians wear the WWJD band all the time. It wasn't until I actually pondered that phrase "What Would Jesus Do?" that a lot of revelations came to me. To be an effective missionary, you have to be Christ-like. People are going to be less willing to hear the gospel from someone who mocks their own friends than those who show common curtesy to everyone, as Christ would. I was a little offended when my friends called me immature just because I like keeping things lighthearted and making people laugh. After I thought about it, the way I was acting wasn't very Christ-like. I was actually breaking the third commandment because I was taking the Lords name in vain. I am a representative of Christ. Every sunday during sacrament I take the Lord's name upon myself. So if I am not being Christ-like, wouldn't I be breaking the commandment? Now that I try and be as Christ-like as possible, I'll be even more blessed at being an effective missionary.