For the last three nights, the musical "The Book of Mormon" has served up an irreverent dose of humor at the Landmark Theatre. Much of that humor comes at the expense of the Mormon faith and its missionaries.

"Hello would you like to change religion?" goes a lyric in the opening number. "Have a free book written by Jesus!"

Fortunately, it seems, Mormons have maintained their sense of humor.

The church took out three full-page ads in the show's program promoting its religious text, The Book of Mormon. It's something they've done for productions around the country.

"The book is always better," one ad reads.

The ads are in line with the church's official response to the play:

The play follows two plucky Mormon missionaries on a journey to Africa, poking fun at their unflappably upbeat demeanor and the religion's origin story. Rather than criticize the show, the local Mormon delegation sent its missionaries to canvas the theater.

Seth Merrill is ward mission leader for the Church of Latter Day Saints on East Colvin Street. He said he sees the play's popularity as a conversation starter -- the show has nearly sold out all of its eight performances at the 2,800-seat theater.

Seth Merrill, right, and Tom Kazmierczak, executive director of the Landmark Theatre, pose outside Thursday's showing of 'The Book of Mormon.'

"I heard the show was coming and thought, 'This is a great missionary opportunity,' " Merrill said.

Merrill approached Landmark Executive Director Thomas Kazmierczak over a month ago to ask permission to be outside the theater. Kazmierczak obliged.

"We just want to share our message," Merrill said. "And here was a group of people at least talking about the Book of Mormon."

At each performance thus far, a group of missionaries has gathered outside the theater's entrance to hand out copies of the actual Book of Mormon and talk with theatergoers. They even brought along a life-size cutout of Mormon missionaries for people to pose with.

Elder Smith and Elder Moss were among the missionaries at the Landmark Thursday night. Neither had seen the play (nor had Merrill), and didn't want to speculate about what it may or may not say.

"The play may spread some misconceptions," Smith said. "But it also makes some people curious about what [Mormonism] is really about. It's balanced."

Moss recalled a woman in his native California who had seen the show and had dozens of questions for him afterward. She asked, for example, if Mormons really panicked and hit themselves whenever they had a bad thought (as Elder Price does in the musical).

"Of course not," Moss said, laughing.

James Gage, who was not at the theater Thursday, hadn't seen the show either, but read a review on Syracuse.com. He served as a missionary in Portugal from 2003-05. He had no qualms with the show but was puzzled over why the writers chose Mormonism of all religions.

"Why us?" he asked. "They're using us because we're nice people."

Moss said he has had several people approach him outside the Landmark assuming he was part of the production. He laughs it off.

Smith said about a third of the people avoid him altogether, refusing to even make eye contact. Another third will politely refuse to talk. And another third still might take a copy of the book and stop for a moment to chat.

"They're there to see 'The Book of Mormon,'" Moss said. "We might as well give them a real copy of the book."

Merrill said they've given out hundreds of books in the play's first three nights. They've ordered more.

Life as a Mormon missionary

There are more than 88,000 Mormon missionaries dispatched worldwide.

In Syracuse, there are eight Mormon missionaries: Four pairs of "companions." They come from all over the country and the world -- one missionary is here from Hong Kong.

Elder Smith, 20, is a missionary from Alaska. He and his companion, Elder Moss, originally of Southern California, cover the west side of the Syracuse ward.

Missionaries are trained for anywhere from two to 12 weeks, Moss said. For those going abroad, like Gage, training involved learning another language, Portuguese.

Expenses for a two-year missionary term are about $10,000, which is paid for either by the missionary, his or her family or church members who wish to contribute. Each missionary is paired with a same-gender "companion" in any given location. They receive a small stipend for food.

Missionaries adhere to a rigid schedule. They're up at 6:30 a.m. seven days a week. They exercise for 30 minutes. From 7 to 8 a.m. they shower and have breakfast. 8 to 10 a.m. is devoted to personal study and prayer, covering the Old and New Testaments of the Bible and the Book of Mormon, as well as talks and writings by church elders.

From 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. they "go out and teach." That involves meeting with interested people to discuss the teachings of the church and, occasionally, going door to door.

"You don't have a lot of success just knocking on doors," Moss said. "Usually we're meeting with people who have already shown interest in some way or another."

"You succeed when you talk to people, not at them," Smith added.

By 10:30 p.m., they're in bed. To stay out later, they need to receive permission from the mission president, like they did for the shows at the Landmark.

Missionary work is a full-time job for two years. Missionaries are assigned a location by church officials. There's no vacation time, nor are there any breaks. Once a week, they may email family members.

"You're here and you're supposed to be completely focused on serving," Smith said.

And, as in the musical, the men are always outfitted in a white shirt and tie. The dress code, they said, is about "representing Jesus Christ." In fact, Gage said one of the hardest parts of returning to life after two years as a missionary was not waking up and putting on a tie and nametag every morning.

"It was a really hard two years," he said. "But it's all about service. You grow to love the people you serve."