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The Areas I was called to serve my mission in Spokane, Washington, an area covering the Eastern half of Washington and the panhandle of Idaho. A small bit of Montana and an even smaller portion of Canada was included, and part of the South end of Washington, excluded. I received my call at the beginning of April, was set apart as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on June 27th and entered the MTC on the 29th.
The MTC was, as with all other missionaries, my first area. I spent just in excess of two and a half weeks there, on the campus located in Provo, Utah. It is, geographically, a very small location, and crammed with people. There are approximately 5,000 people who work and serve there, and the facility can accommodate approximately that many missionaries. I had the shortest stay there as I spoke English and we left on the first possible exit day, Monday. The stay there can range from my two and a half weeks to 12 weeks if a difficult language is being learned.
No matter which regime one finds ones self, the total time spent will make up a minor portion of your overall mission, but for me; a memorable portion.
When I arrived in Spokane, there was a day of orientation (that Monday) and the following day I was assigned a companion and sent to Beacon Hill, a small section of North Eastern Spokane; it’s also known as Hillyard (named after it’s founder, Mr. Hill, the fact that it does indeed lay on a hill is irrelevant to the name) or Dog town (predictably due to the low income level and standard of living). It was a larger area for being in the city, though we were not given a car to cover it.
Most of the residences were apartments and run down houses, interspersed with beautifully constructed relics from the days when Hillyard was its own, booming, rail yard city. Most of the people living there were poor, and had every intention of remaining that way; though the occasional Gonzaga student could be found if one looked hard enough.
My stay in Beacon Hill lasted only three months, and just in time for the onslaught of winter I was sent north to Republic, Washington. Undoubtedly my most interesting area geographically it spanned an enormous amount of acreage. At one point I estimated it, roughly, at 1,500 square miles. In Beacon Hill my companion and I covered one ward, in Republic I found myself in a small branch that continued to decrease in size as jobs left the area and winter came on, making travel difficult.
Mountains, valleys, and gorgeous views were everywhere, and in my mind the snow only strengthened the surrounding beauty. Most of the people were retired or had a rather poor-paying job. The county we covered (we covered several, but the one we did the principle amount of our work in) had 7,200 people living in it, and over 80% of the land (which was sizeable) was made up of un-taxable land; Indian Reservations, National Forrest, State land and the like. The result was a great lack of money, and poor upkeep of general infrastructure.
Most of the roads were dirt or ruined pavement. The plowing system made a valiant effort, but some things just couldn’t be done. On a typical day of missionary work our S10 Chevy pickup was stuck multiple times in multiple places, we just got used to it.
After six months and a winter I found myself headed back to Spokane, and area I affectionately referred to as “The Taj”. It was the North West side this time, and most of people were significantly more upscale than I had ever dealt with on my mission. A small community 12 miles North of Spokane was also included, I mention it because it was a favorite of mine. Small and rural, but with all the urban conveniences.
We covered two wards there, a first for me; but the area got its name from the apartment we stayed in. A couple, members of the Church lived in a beautiful house with a view to equal it, and they had built a basement in it exclusively for her mother. A gorgeous bathroom, walk in closet, large study area, natural gas for the kitchen, and it was all topped off by a chandelier for the dining room. The mother didn’t like it but the missionaries they moved in there behind her did. And so did I. Mostly I liked the members above us; they were a wonderful couple and made the time that much more pleasant for me.
Unfortunately I only had six weeks there, and was promptly moved to 12th and Belle Terre, by far the richest area in the mission and the residence of the mission president. There I stayed for six months, and loved it. It was a city area in essence, though it covered a large portion of rural land. We spent the majority of our time within the city itself. Though it didn’t have the most number of rural residence of any area, the number was quite significant; and I knocked on almost every single one of the doors there. Perhaps my greatest enjoyment was the members there, whom I truly loved. While I was serving there, the mission president changed; and it was interesting, if nothing else, serving in his ward when that happened.
Moving time, and I headed down to Kamiah, Idaho. There, in central Idaho, I found myself covering three different combinations of four wards. When I arrived we covered three wards, and a week or so later the senior couple covering an adjoining ward left and we picked up there ward. Then, either through inspiration or because of my continual requests, we had another set of missionaries sent down and we went to covering two wards.
Many of the stereotypes one would associate with North and Central Idaho were certainly evident there. For instance every home seemed to have guns in the double digits; but that wasn’t the unique part of the experience as a missionary. Around the year 2000, many people moved into the area to avoid government hassles and intervention, like taxes and building codes. Many of these people were LDS, or more commonly, ex-communicated LDS. Or they became that way when they refused to pay income taxes and preached that the Church had gone astray.
A few years before I got there most of these problems were resolved in Church disciplinary action, but few left after this, they just slowed their disruptions of the lives of Church members. Dealing with these people and their influences proved to be interesting, and every once in a while, fun. Certainly I never met before, and will probably never meet again, such a large number of people excommunicated for apostasy.
My final area in the mission moved me up the panhandle to Coeur d’Alene, a beautiful city on the edge of a beautiful lake. We covered one ward that made up half the city. We had no car, but getting anywhere we needed to get within the city itself was easily reached on bike, and I enjoyed the exercise, even if I arrived in the midst of half a foot of snow.
The people were wonderful, a wide cross-section of, if not America, then Idaho. The members there loved us, and we them. It was a perfect place to finish my mission, though I seemed to encounter more set-backs there than anywhere else (as an example, I spent the last 8 weeks or so of my mission with a stress-fracture in my foot from excess walking). And then I went home.
The Companions To avoid this being a gossip session, and because this is about my mission and everyone else is free to write their own memoirs I’ll refrain from using any names and focus on things I learned from them, or serving with them. I learned many things directly from my companions, and many more from their good and bad examples.
To dispense with the negative first, the necessity of its avoidance was one of the lessons that impressed itself upon me the greatest. I served with two companions on both ends of my mission who spent their time in a mindset of depression and failure. All those self-help videos I’d seen on the importance of a positive mental attitude suddenly came back to me.
One had what seemed to a completely uninformed eye such as mine as paranoia, or its associated outlook on life. It seemed that, in his mind, everyone and everything was against him. He had disliked almost all of his companions, all of his areas, and certainly the one we were serving in together. He though the people of the area, the members, and our investigators were all, and always somehow trying to thwart him.
I discovered quickly that attitudes like this one, were quite contagious. I tried my hardest to remain positive; and because (like many of my companions) I was only with him for six weeks and managed to survive mostly unscathed. We had little success together in the numbers of people we worked with; and when another missionary came in who was positive and upbeat we continued to have little success, but this time I loved every minute of it.
The second one was just depressed. I was his first companion, his trainer, and he was not a people person in any way. He was shy and unprepared for the rigors of the intense social workout, not to mention the spiritual drain experienced everyday. His constant depression and attitude of failure were a constant to shadow to our every move, and something I tried desperately to pull the both of us out of. This time, it worked, by the time I left he was significantly improved, to the point of being positive, talkative, and determined to see the mission through. The power to change is in each of us, in every aspect of our lives.
Perhaps the person I learned the most from for the amount of time I spent with him, was an ex-Catholic priest who was with my companion and me for one week. This week was very difficult for me, he was with us due to illness and we spent the lion’s share of it inside our apartment. However, we discussed many topics, and things I learned about the Catholic Church predominantly, as well as many other topics were certainly of value to me, and his story of conversion was a wonderful one to have for the rest of my mission.
One of my great experiences was hearing from companions and other missionaries, the diversities and similarities of what makes a young man choose to serve, and then choose to serve valiantly. Everyone has different reasons and motivations, but it seemed sometimes that they were always the same too. The power of God, His care and attention in the lives of all of His children, how each missionary had their own story of life long preparation, even if they didn’t always recognize it as preparation.
The love of people, the strength of character to withstand attacks from all side, the determination to do the right thing even when its hard, even when your tired, even when you really don’t want to do it. These are the kind of things that one can learn only through experience, and I had the experience (the learning was up to me).
My first companion showed me how to work. Hard. Work, work, work, and I knew how to do it from him. With each companion you pick up some tricks and some ideas, and those go with you through your mission, but you also pick up more lasting things, like how to work. How to love everyone, how to share your testimony in a meaningful way, how to recognize your own flaws and then try your best to fix them. And with some of them, I really enjoyed it.
The People Good people, bad people, people in the middle. Rich and poor, religious and anti-religion, conservatives and liberals, people of all kinds and types and shapes. Some I liked, some liked me, and some the reverse was true in both cases, but I loved all of them.
The whole mission (the area I could have served in) was conservative, all well in the red. Most people also declared themselves as Christians, but the amount of activity in various Churches didn’t necessarily support their declarations of faith. However, it was nice for us since the majority of people knew they should, and at least partially wanted to go to Church. One of my first surprises was the hatred to people to the LDS Church. I knew it was out there, but experiencing it was something else. Some people were mad because we came to their door and they didn’t want anyone there, but most of the angry people were upset because we were from the Devil. Everything from general rudeness to cursing, to obscene gestures, to people throwing things at us. At one point, someone pulled a gun on my companion and me.
I also learned what it was like to get lied to. All the time. People lying at the door, people lying about interest, times their home, neighbors, directions, reasons they can’t do this or that, people having their children lie for them. It hurt, it was aggravating, it was the world. Lying, rejection, anger, ignorance, they were my constant companion for two years.
Yet I found that if we ever wanted a drink of water, all I had to do was knock on a door and the majority of people would give me one. Even those that hated who I was, I came to realize, did it out of a genuine desire to do good. They were doing what they thought was right; and though we were attacked constantly on doorsteps and on the streets, you could come to respect the conviction of one who had the guts to tell us to our face we were wrong.
My very first day in the mission field we met Pastor Dan. We were looking for families on a list we had, and he called us over to his house where he was outside working on his car. Neither of us knew him, but he was an Assembly of God Pastor for a local congregation and he wanted to talk to us about religion and what we could do to help the other pastors in the region get over their ignorant hatred of our Church. It was a wonderful introduction to mission life, and to the people I would be serving.
Certainly I learned a lot about people, when they’re feeding me a story, when they’re genuine, when they’re afraid or don’t understand, and when they really care. Perhaps the greatest lesson I learned, however, was that most people are trying to do good, even if they end up ignorantly doing evil.
The Conversions I feel that as the years pass, the stories that will emerge as by far the most memorable, are those of the conversions of the people I worked with. I wont attempt to share a comprehensive list, but perhaps a few of the more choice experiences that I had in that process.
One of my favorite stories is that of an old man, 76 years old, and married for 18 years to a member of the Church. She was inactive when they were married, but it wasn’t long before she became active and he began to experience the Church firsthand. Home teachers, visiting teachers, missionaries. 17 years he was around it, and never seemed to anyone, to consider it. He was nice, and had a great heart, but he liked making some of his more religious visitors uncomfortable by using a less than elegant vernacular. This we were told, along with the hopelessness of the situation on our ride up to meet him for the first time. We were both new to the area, and various members of the ward were taking us around to get to know the area and the people.
We were welcomed in warmly, and soon the conversation turned to religion. We moved quickly to baptism, and challenged him to be baptized, he accepted. At 76 he decided to make a life change, he decided to join the Church, because we’d asked, and because he knew it was true. Now my lack of faith curbed my expectations on what kind of change I thought I’d see. He was an old man, and a good one. His life was not significantly out of harmony with Church teachings (he had to give up coffee, that and the swearing was about the extent of it) nor was he a particularly unhappy man, he was normally in quite good spirits. Yet I saw him change, in just a short period of time. I new light shone in his eyes, and a new peace and happiness radiated from him. He began reading the scriptures every night and though he was 76, yet he changed at least as much as any other person I taught on my mission.
In the theme that it’s impossible to convert the old and the rich, perhaps I’ll tell of the conversion of a lady who, with her husband, was worth millions and growing. We met her husband first, and talked with him enough to set-up a return appointment with the whole family (two children). Soon the others dropped out, but she continued to meet with us. She told us she knew it (meaning the Gospel) was true, but the pressure from her family and herself was too much. We asked her to be baptized on the 8th of October, 4 or 5 weeks away. She said she couldn’t do it, but she would continue meeting with us. We met two to three times a week, and each time, challenged her to be baptized on the 8th, and each time she refused. We prayed for her and encouraged her as best we could.
A week and a half before the ominous 8th we met with her again. We asked her if she’d prayed and read from the Book of Mormon. She said she had, and not only did she know it was true, she knew it was worth the consequences. We asked her to be baptized on the 8th of October, and she agreed. Her happiness, and the effect on her family was wonderful, and I know that I could go back at any point to their home, and they would take me in. What wonderful people, what a wonderful experience.
There was a young lady in her late 20s who knew a member of the Church in our area. She wanted to learn more about it; purely out of curiosity she told us. We met with her and asked her to be baptized. She was taken aback, but she had felt the presence of the Holy Ghost while we met with her and she said no, but she would like to meet with us again. When we did we told her she’d have to quit smoking, and she said she couldn’t. We told her we’d offer help, and more importantly, God would offer His help, and she turned us down. As she was driving home she had a powerful spiritual witness that what we were telling her was true, and that she needed to join the Church. Well we didn’t know this until she showed up for our next appointment and informed us that she had quit smoking and drinking coffee. It didn’t take long to set a baptismal date, and 3 weeks later she was baptized.
When we met her, she was confused about life and her role. She didn’t know what to do with the degree she’d just gotten, nor why she couldn’t seem to find happiness. In about 4 weeks she made up her mind to get more education and become a biochemists, she understood her purpose and her plan, and suddenly she spent the day smiling instead the constant worry that had obsessed her life before. Conversion is a beautiful thing.
The Doctrine One of the things that grew the most in me, was my understanding and testimony of the doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I was a member of the Church for one year, four months, and just under twenty-nine days when I entered the MTC. At this point I have still spent more time as a member of the Church on a mission than not; so to say that I learned more on my mission about the doctrine than I did the whole rest of my life is an understatement.
I think I really started the learning process in Republic, about 6 months into my mission. Though I was slowly growing in accumulated knowledge, I was still just reading my scriptures instead of studying them. Instead of having a comprehensive picture emerge of the Plan that God had for me and all of His children, I was taking in a truth here and a truth there, making unconnected stores of almost useless knowledge. Then I couldn’t sleep multiple nights in a row, and one of those nights I decided to use that time for something.
I decided to prove that the Gospel plan of Christ was to have faith in Him, repent of ones sins, be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost; and do so using exclusively Bible scriptures. So I stayed up that night and did it. I even wrote the whole thing out. I’d like to say that I never just read again, but in fact that made up the majority of my study time. However, now I knew how to truly study, and when I was motivated enough, I could do it.
After 2 years on a mission I became one of the mission experts on all things scriptural and doctrinal. I love the doctrine, I love studying it, I love knowing it, I love knowing more about it. I don’t claim to be a true expert, but I do claim to love the topic, and I hope that I’ll always be interested in learning more.
I had many spiritual experiences, but looking back I don’t really see any sudden jumps in spirituality or testimony; rather a gradual growth of true understanding and faith was the order of the day. Daily experience with a variety of Gospel principles solidified my heartfelt knowledge of each, or as Paul would say, wrote the truth not with ink on parchment or in tables of stone, but in the fleshy tables of my heart. I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the path to salvation, and that all promises of God were made sure by the sacrifice of His Son, the Christ.
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My apologies, I was going to do this sooner, proof-read it, and add several more sections including a stories section that I was rather looking forward to writing. However, time passed and I made the executive decision that if I was to ever post this, I had to do this now or it would never happen.
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Hobbes you should've stopped by! Doh! I used to hate missionaries, but now I see that you're just people like the rest of us who have a belief. Door to door can get you down, fur shure.
Glad you liked the beauty of the place.
My sister's an airline stewardess based in Salt Lake. If I ever visit we'll have to butt heads er...have a drink! Posts: 1236 | Registered: Mar 2002
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I don't know where I stand on mission work. I guess it's here - I don't mind people who want to devote their time to mission work, and I'll be polite and kind to them (always willing to give a cup of water) but I don't want to be annoyed by pushy missionaries, or salespeople for that matter.
I've had missionaries both who were delightful and I was pleased to meet and wish them well, and I've had some who were obnoxious. Like many things, it depends on the individuals who are knocking at your door.
I'm not singling out Mormons or anyone, by the way, but rather anyone who comes to my door and bugs me - including people from local Protestant churches. Sometimes they are very friendly and just want to introduce themselves and invite me to the church - and when I tell them I already have a church we can chat about who we know from where and that kind of thing. But even if it's my own faith or denomination, I don't want to be pestered, if I say I am happy where I am I want people to turn around and get off my porch. Because if you knock on my door I can promise you, with my busy life, that you've interrupted something that I didn't want interrupted. Either I was reading, working on schoolwork or playing with my kids, heck even if I were just watching tv I get to watch so little I don't like to be bothered when I do. When I get upset is when, after I've said I'm happy in my current church, missionaries keep pestering me, shoving tracts in my face, asking me if I'm examined my spiritual life lately, whatever - but they keep trying to engage me when I've clearly put out the polite signal that I'd rather be left alone. That is when I get annoyed.
Sorry Hobbesy, I don't want to turn this into a gripe thread. I'm glad you got to see some great things and meet some people that you will always remember. Sorry about some of the bad stuff (the gun being pulled on you sounds particularly distressing). And it's good to have your smiling face back. Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Hobbes, that's a fascinating insight into world that to me is wholly unknown. Thanks.
I love missionaries, but I never seem to be in if they arrive. We had some Jehova's Witnesses around the other day, but we were just going out and couldn't give them any time. A pity, as they had certainly earned a cup of tea - we live in a remote village half-way up a mountain.
I bump into the local missionaries from time to time but they look so earnest and busy that I daren't interrupt them.
It is also interesting to contrast the evangelical attitude of the LDS with that of the local Catholic church. We receive a quarterly note form the local parish church asking for our contribution of 35€ ($48). Yet not once has anyone connected with the church popped in to say hello, or even enquire if we were Catholics and would we be attending mass. Nothing.
And it's not as if we are hidden away - we live next door to the church...
Still, where I'm from we burn Catholics. "Remember remember the 5th of November..." Posts: 892 | Registered: Oct 2006
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Awesome story Hobbes. Mormons are neat. I saw some missionaries walking around at the local art fair last month. I would have loved to say hi but it seemed rude to just walk up and say "great job" and chickened out.
But what a great experiance for you! How many partners did you have total?
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Thank you so much for sharing this, Hobbes. I really appreciate your detialed and inspiring recollection of your mission. Good luck with decompression! (See lots of movies!)
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quote:They were doing what they thought was right; and though we were attacked constantly on doorsteps and on the streets, you could come to respect the conviction of one who had the guts to tell us to our face we were wrong.
This is precisely the mindset I used to stave off depression when it felt like rejection was a constant companion.
Sounds like you had a solid mission, thanks for sharing your experiences, I really mean that.
Welcome home as well, hit the ground running and don't slack in your determination to be constantly at work progressing.
If you are interested, some time ago I wrote out my own experiences as a landmark. Be forewarned its quite lengthy, you did a much better job summing up your missionary experiences Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Glad to see you're back and survived your mission Hobbes. We missed you around here! Normally I'd have to throw in my lot with those who are none-to-fond of folk who go door to door, especially folk who go door to door espousing their religions (shouldn't be a surprise given my feelings on religion). But after reading your post I think from now on I'll probably invite any missionaries I run across in for a cup of tea or water, while perhaps warning them that I'm a hopeless case
Something that bugs me about the whole mission idea though. You spent two years going door to door in often poor or stricken areas trying to convert people to Mormonism with a number of companions. Would it not have been better doing work to help those stricken people, and along the way while working with and for them doing a little teaching? I mean, I imagine your message would be much more welcome if it came out of your mouth while working along side these people to better their lives. Or is this exactly what you did? Do I just misunderstand the purpose of a mission in thinking you just went door to door trying to convert people?
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quote:Would it not have been better doing work to help those stricken people, and along the way while working with and for them doing a little teaching?
That question assumes a difference between helping a person achieve conversion and helping them in their life. Of course that makes perfect sense if you're not a member of the faith, but for me and for those I served with, the two are perfectly synonymous. I believed and do believe that the most helpful thing I could do for anyone I met, the thing that would make them the happiest, was to share the Gospel.
That being said:
quote:I mean, I imagine your message would be much more welcome if it came out of your mouth while working along side these people to better their lives. Or is this exactly what you did?
At just about every door that didn't get slammed in my face my companion or I offered our services, free, for just about anything. Occasionally we were taken up on our offer and we happily offered our service without any obligation to hear our message or join our Church. However, the vast majority of people refused our offer, and it's hard to do manual service for someone that said they don't want your help. I did end up getting double digit cords of wood for those who needed it, not to mention a lot of moving and lawn care help; but mostly people don't want help.
quote:Do I just misunderstand the purpose of a mission in thinking you just went door to door trying to convert people?
Which I suppose is the real question. My purpose as a missionary was to help other come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored Gospel. Anything else was ancillary to that, so the real answer to your question is that you didn’t misunderstand at all. However, that doesn’t mean that we weren’t willing to offer our help in what ever way we could. Not that this is really the point, but the Church does have several different outreach programs for those in need; but none of them are missionary efforts. In other words, the Church has an employment center that will help anyone of any faith (or not) get a job; but there’s no terms and conditions associated: they don’t proselyte. So we weren’t generally involved in that work except to send people we found who needed help in the appropriate direction.
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I appreciate all the kind comments from everyone, thank-you and this is another perfect example of the goodness of people. I know many of you wouldn't have liked to see me at your door, but you ability to see past that to what my experience and reasons were shows a greatness of heart.
quote: My very first day in the mission field we met Pastor Dan.
When I read that I automatically pictured "Lieutenant Dan"
Sounds like a wonderful experience, Hobbes. I'm so glad you wrote it up like that to share with us.
You would be welcome at my door (even though you wouldn't convert me) I don't get many missionaries this way -- too remote; and those who try are usually scared off by my dogs.
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When I was on my mission, we were directed to help anyone we saw in need, if they were willing to accept our help, Alcon.
In addition, every week we put in volunteer time...it varied on the area just where and what, but always to help those who needed help.
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quote:At just about every door that didn't get slammed in my face my companion or I offered our services, free, for just about anything. Occasionally we were taken up on our offer and we happily offered our service without any obligation to hear our message or join our Church. However, the vast majority of people refused our offer, and it's hard to do manual service for someone that said they don't want your help. I did end up getting double digit cords of wood for those who needed it, not to mention a lot of moving and lawn care help; but mostly people don't want help.
quote:When I was on my mission, we were directed to help anyone we saw in need, if they were willing to accept our help, Alcon.
In addition, every week we put in volunteer time...it varied on the area just where and what, but always to help those who needed help.
quote:At just about every door that didn't get slammed in my face my companion or I offered our services, free, for just about anything. Occasionally we were taken up on our offer and we happily offered our service without any obligation to hear our message or join our Church. However, the vast majority of people refused our offer, and it's hard to do manual service for someone that said they don't want your help. I did end up getting double digit cords of wood for those who needed it, not to mention a lot of moving and lawn care help; but mostly people don't want help.
quote:When I was on my mission, we were directed to help anyone we saw in need, if they were willing to accept our help, Alcon.
In addition, every week we put in volunteer time...it varied on the area just where and what, but always to help those who needed help.
Fair enough. Thanks guys
Dogpile on Alcon! I was asked on my mission to do up to 4 hours of community service a week. Beyond that I was told that helping the people was just as important as attempting to share the gospel with folks.
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I personally see more benefit in mission work that does help with immediate physical needs. Doesn't mean I don't respect Hobbes for doing what he believes in, but I just wanted you to know, Alcon, that many Christians do feel the way you do.
One of our missionaries who worked in rural, impoverished Honduras as a pediatric physician said it very succintly - "You can preach about Jesus all day long but they won't hear you if their baby is dying in their arms. On the other hand, if you take that baby, and give it food and medicine, and exhibit the love of Christ to them, then you're living the Gospel, not preaching it."
Your question, I believe is a good one. I think it's something all believers should ask themselves and examine. Would my witness be more powerful if I were acting and doing and loving instead of just talking? Most of the time the answer is yes, in my opinion. Again, I don't mean to disparage what Hobbes did with his life the last two years, there is a place for evangelism, but I don't think that any church should lose sight of the fact that caring, loving, and meeting needs in THIS life is important too.
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The implication that missionaries looking for converts won't try to help others confuses me. Service was not "second place" to sharing the gospel when I was a missionary.
Why is one seen as excluding the other?
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One of the things I learned from my mission was that missions are more for the physical, emotional, and spiritual growth of the missionaries than they are for, really, anything else. There is very little that will teach you more about how to have Christian principles such as love, humility, patience, kindness, and sacrifice than giving up two of your absolute best years telling other people what you believe. We have missionaries that devote 2 years of their lives to running hospitals in third world countries. We have missionaries that spend their time coordinating relief efforts for major disasters. Missionaries in the LDS church do more than just knock on doors "Trying to convert people." If we were just trying to convert people, we'd only allow the absolute best of our young men to go knocking on doors. We send out whoever, because we believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we believe it is something that people would be glad to have in their lives. It lifts people up, gives them hope, gives them focus, and helps them to better understand who they are. Frankly, I don't understand why more Christian churches don't spend more time sharing the message of peace, love, and kindness to all men that was taught by Jesus Christ.
edit: And Hobbes, welcome back I always wondered what the Spokane Missionaries said about those crazy Boise missionaries to the south(That's where I server). Probably nothing I would have loved to be in Northern Idaho. Very beautiful country (I'm told), even though it's where everyone goes to escape "the man."
[ August 01, 2007, 07:55 PM: Message edited by: Boris ]
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I used to hate missionaries, but now I see that you're just people like the rest of us who have a belief. Door to door can get you down, fur shure.![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Evil]](graemlins/evil.gif)
![[Cool]](cool.gif)
