Here's a new wrinkle in missionary service. At least 4 elders, possibly more are guarding a small church parking lot so nobody can park there. They position themselves at the small branch building in order to prevent the public from parking on church property. Why?

Every year the border city of Hidalgo has a "Festival of Lights." There are tours to view the lights, various food, free music and rides to choose from. Unfortunately, the LDS church is also involved; not because it wants to, but because of its location. The church is across the street from city hall; which is the central location of this festival. Naturally, people want to park on vacant church property, but this is no longer permitted as was tolerated in previous years. The church also had white lights that outlined the eaves of the roof. They also had an indoor tree with colored lights in the foyer. Obviously, this is now verboten. The church was dark inside and the misers even had their outdoor lights turned off as well.

Now there are young men crazily waving their arms and hollering "No parking!" and "Park somewhere else." In order to aid them, they have the yellow crime scene/ police tape carefully zig-zaging the entire parking lot. They were also using small LED flashlights which probably confused drivers to believe that they were there to offer valet parking service.

I would like to return to listen to all their golden contacts they're getting while telling people to go away. lol :D

Map
https://www.google.com/maps/@26.1034616,-98.2532708,155m/data=!3m1!1e3

Sample video made by young people enjoying the lights and themselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxLQ2ospYZQ

May they continue to demonstrate what @ssholes they are.

I was hoping this day would come. They've finally gone mad.

I wouldn't want the public parking on MY property either.

Yellow crime scene tape -- how festive!

Well in a sense, it is a crime scene.

My former church made a mint every spring by allowing people to park in the church parking lot of the high school's graduation across the street. It was "suggested dontation" of $10. They money went to youth missions. Everybody paid, and some even paid more than the suggested amount.

The event is part of the church's yearly budget because it raises thousands of dollars every year.

What a great idea. Maybe they can steal it.

nothing says Welcome like FREE PARKING!

To keep people away

So they won't have to TEACH & PREACH and poo as missionaries doo.

The cult of STAY AWAY and stay awake!

My city has a simple rule in the busy center: offices can preserve their parking space during office hours, businesses can do so during their business hours, but all of them have to vacate it from one hour after until one hour before the next working day. So an office that is open Mon-Fi 9am-5pm has to open its parking lot to others from 6pm on Friday till 8am on Monday. And they can even charge for it, though no more than the fixed rate of all the city center's parking lots.

Of course, this is in a dictatorial country, but still.

It must be a liability issue, if someone slips on some ice they could sue? (not that it ever snows in South Texas). The church does the same thing at college campuses in Utah, there are big signs that say NO PARKING! So Mormon kids have to park blocks away for whatever reason.

Or they don't want Bondo Buggies leaking oil all over their pretty parking lot.

I know I am not going to make any friends for saying this but: It is their property. If they don't want people parking, it is their right. You wouldn't like people parking in your drive? no! Neither do they.

There are some differences, however.

In the first place, your own driveway is a small, narrow space that is usually the only vehicular access to you home. If someone else parks there, it blocks your access to your home.

That is not the case for a church parking lot.

In addition, many churches see opening their facilities to the community as a part of their mission. It's a way to use things that would otherwise be sitting empty most of the time. It's also good public relations. It says,"We welcome you! We are your friends and neighbors!"

Closing your *vacant* parking lot off to the public says something quite the opposite.

Churches in my area regularly open their parking lots to the public and do not have a problem with legal issues (insurance). I don't know what they do, precisely, but they do find that it is not a problem. They simply post signs listing the times that the lots are open, and, if applicable, the parts of the lots that are open.

It's an excellent public relations move. People comment on it all of the time, and are grateful to the churches for their consideration. I (and I don't belong to any of those churches, but do take part in events at some of them) have heard these positive comments many times.

I think that that is the point of the post. TSCC has a chance to do something nice for the community and --- so very often, TSCC chooses to spit in the community's face.

And, by the way, even in private driveways and yards, one often sees the owners opening up the space for pubic parking for a modest fee during very large, local events.

It's way more friendly to have a crew directing parking and (maybe) taking in a modest fee than it is to have a crew repelling the general public.

That's my mission! The world's largest killer bee (a statue) is in front of the Hidalgo City Hall!

Wouldn't it have been simpler to simply install a gate, or borrow some saw horses (or other barriers) from the PD, instead of embarassing the misshies by making them wave people off?

Liability issues are often solved by a disclaimer sign, "Parking permitted at owner's risk," etc.

I wanted to add some more background information.

The month long festival of lights began in 1991.

The branch building didn't exist until sometime in the late 1990s.

There is/was a plethora of available property in this small town, but the church wanted to close to city hall. Remember their mantra of the past; in the latter days, the church will be a shining beacon on the hill. They wanted to be close to all civic events.

The church had previously permitted the use of their open field for parking until this year. The missionaries would pass out cards of Christ and invite non-members into the foyer for free "hot chocolate". This was their golden opportunity to con folks to join their church.

The city would promptly clean up all trash and litter every morning.

The city stationed police officers in front of the church to help pedestrians safely cross and to keep an eye on church property.

***If the church is so adamant about protecting their property, then they have a responsibility to improve it. They are free to spend some $$$ and build a wall-fence. They can also construct a gate that can be locked.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2016 01:35PM by messygoop.

It's that time for the 2018 Festival of Lights. I happened to pass by the location last night. It was very crowded with people enjoying themselves as they walked on the sidewalks. Here's a few observations while stopped on the street due to backed up traffic.

First, the church relinquished its absolute control of its parking lot. Every parking space was occupied and missionaries were not standing outside trying to block people from entering. IMHO this is a good PR move!

Secondly, the eaves of the roof was outlined with strings of white X-mas lights. Even the windows were outlined as well!

Bizarre and Strange sight!

As I passed by the main entrance of the chapel, I noticed a tall man in a white shirt. I presumed him to be a missionary. Anyways, he was pounding on the top glass of the door. I believe that he was locked out and wanted to come inside. There were two other people standing next to him. A young child was standing next to woman. Maybe they wanted to come inside to use the restroom or drink water from the fountain. Since Mormons are so hell-bent over little things such as proper attire, I don't believe the woman was a member because she was showing most of her legs in a mini-skirt.

So the door opened and in walked the Elder. Now this is where his body language tells the full story! He turned around and slowly closed the door. You know the scene; when somebody that doesn't want to bothered is talking but closing the door simultaneously. I was watching this entire event unfold. I saw the woman extend her hand towards the child. She definitely took a step towards the door as they intended to follow the Elder inside into the foyer area, but were stopped. Ultimately, the lady and the child turned around to walk along the sidewalk. They had been denied admittance into the Mormon chapel.

One final comment. I could not see into the foyer area of the church even though I had a clear view from my vantage point.

Why?

The lights of the foyer were turned off!

I know exactly what it looks like to enter a dark church building because I used to enter one as a ward clerk.

No sign of a X-mas tree, cookies or hot chocolate being served in the foyer.

Just a very dark building with missionaries defending the church building.