Posted by:
Book of Mordor
(
)
Date: July 24, 2014 12:50AM
When was that rule formally instituted? It was never mentioned during my mission (Montreal 1980-82). I think we would have ignored it though, given that actual teaching opportunities were so rare.
In one of my areas, we had one of those eternal investigators (Québecoise) who just really liked the missionaries. At the time she was divorced, would have been in her late 30's with a daughter about 10. Every set of elders in that area thought nothing of visiting her place for a few hours to relax and unwind, and had been openly doing so for several years. There was no hint of flirtation much less seduction to anyone's knowledge.
A few months after I left the area, she decided to get baptized, which amazed me and every other elder who was acquainted with her. (The biggest hurdles for her had been tithing and the WoW.)
Then about six months later, near the end of my tour of duty, I learned that she was getting married – to an elder that was still in the field. He'd been assigned to that area sometime after me, and apparently they'd fallen in love and he had proposed. He was a month behind me, so he too was near the end, but he was planning to return to Montreal, get hitched, and stay. Like everyone else, I was stunned. I saw her once after I heard the news, and she confirmed it; she was referring to him by his first name, which she'd never done with me or any other elder in my presence. I have no reason to suspect that they didn't go through with it either.
Another story, different area. My companion and I were driving back to our place from an evening with the sister missionaries in our district when we saw a broken-down car pulled over to the shoulder. The driver was a woman, probably mid-30's. I think it was December 1981, and being Canada of course it was snowing pretty hard. We decided to give her a ride, even though we *knew* it was against the rules. She wasn't dressed all that warmly, and we figured it would be a greater sin to let her freeze in the dark.
So she hopped in the back seat, and we started off. Her place was on our way, so we didn't have to make a detour. Right away, we could tell that she had been drinking; we could smell it on her, and we thought, "Oh, great."
Normally, it was a quick drive, but because it was snowing and nighttime, I couldn't drive anywhere near the speed limit. It was taking way longer than usual. About 15 minutes into the drive, she started getting uneasy about our intentions, and told us to drop her off right then and there. We still had maybe 8-10 miles to go, and my comp turned around and said, "Look, lady. It's cold out there, and no one else is on the road now."
She quieted down, but a few minutes later, she asked if it was OK to smoke a cigarette. We both said "NO!" so of course she lit up, and we thought, "Oh, f***." So we spent the rest of the drive in a car filling up with cigarette smoke and wishing we could go faster without skidding off the road ourselves.
We finally got her home, then rolled down every window (in the cold, snow and wind) for the rest of the trip back to our place in order to get the stink of smoke out of the car. Didn't work. Two days later we picked up the sisters to drive with them somewhere, and one mentioned that she could smell cigarettes. My comp and I looked at each other with an "Oh s*** we're busted" expression. But then she said that it must be them because earlier they'd been teaching an investigator who smoked.
Lord, were we relieved to hear that. For obvious reasons, of course we never fessed up. Luckily, we weren't put into that situation again.