Provo » When Victor Rodriguez was in elementary school, teachers pulled him out of class to test his English proficiency every year, even though he was born in Provo and spoke English without a trace of accent.

It was one of the ways the son of Guatemalan immigrants was made to feel separate from his white peers.

After he graduated from high school, Rodriguez served a Mormon mission in Nicaragua, where he was continually impressed by the kindness and welcoming treatment he received from complete strangers. So, it seemed all the more jarring when he returned home to a growing anti-immigrant sentiment.

Now 25, Rodriguez is part of a newly formed group of returned LDS missionaries dedicated to reminding fellow Mormons how their sons, daughters or siblings were welcomed, fed and sheltered during their religious stints in Latin America or in stateside immigrant communities.

Missionaries for Compassion Toward Immigrants was founded by Aaron Petterborg, a 26-year-old Brigham Young University student living in Provo. The Texas native, who is white, served an LDS mission in Salt Lake City, preaching largely to undocumented immigrants, and was disturbed by many Utahns' treatment of that community.

The group has 188 members on Facebook and a core of about 40 members who actively participate in gatherings. They volunteer for service projects and also engage fellow members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in dialogue about immigration and immigrants.

"We hold antagonism toward immigrants in general and adherence to Gospel principles to be intrinsically conflicted," the group's charter states. Missionaries for Compassion has drafted a petition asking people to support the rights of all community members, regardless of their legal status.

Petterborg plans to have the group work with state legislators in upcoming sessions to change or repeal SB81, Utah's immigration law set to take effect July 1.

But more important to Petterborg than persuading politicians is changing the mindset of Utah residents.

"Even more powerful than a political change is the change that happens with our communities," he said. "What people think is much more important than what a law says."

Petterborg points to scriptural references that he says teach compassion toward all of God's children. One example is the Book of Mormon story of King Benjamin in Mosiah Chapter 4, where the king admonishes his subjects not to turn away anyone in need of help, and not to blame them for their situation. The lesson culminates in the thought: "Are we not all beggars?"

The group references the church's belief that all souls need "saving ordinances" - sacred rites including baptism and temple ceremonies - to get into heaven and that immigrants willing "to deal with their documentation status" should be allowed such ordinances even though they have broken immigration law.

But Ron Mortensen, of the Utah Coalition on Illegal Immigration, calls the group's stance hypocritical. A returned LDS missionary himself, he stresses the religion's Twelfth Article of Faith, which mandates all Mormons follow the rule of law.

"You can be baptized if you're an illegal alien using stolen documents and someone else's identity and committing perjury on an I-9 form, but they couldn't be baptized for drinking a cup of tea," he said.

"It just seems [Missionaries for Compassion] really are working out of pure compassion and totally out of emotion," Mortensen said. "If they are so concerned about these individuals, are they willing to give them their names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth so they can limit the damage they are doing to other people in order to get jobs?"

But the group's goal is lauded by Latino community activist Michael Clara, who is in the leadership of a Spanish-speaking LDS congregation.

"I applaud this group, but I think it's an indictment of people that we have to have returned missionaries teach us the value of and need for exercising Christian values," Clara said. "I think it's needed to open our eyes to the reality of practicing our religion."

Missionaries for Compassion member Raquel Zarco Gonzalez, who is from Mexico City and served her LDS mission there before attending BYU, said she faced some hostility when she first arrived.

"Many people believe that illegal immigrants come to cause trouble, but students who come here to go to the university come here for the same reasons, and some students are legal, some not," Zarco Gonzalez said. "The reasons are not different. I want people to see beyond papers and see the real reasons people are here."

Missionaries for Compassion is quick with the disclaimer that it does not represent the LDS Church's official stance. The members are simply interpreting their religion on their own and living the values they say their church instilled in them.

They aren't asking for the church to adopt an official policy, either. "We don't need our church leaders to tell us we need to be good people in every aspect of our lives," Petterborg said. "They've already taught us that."