Posted by:
severedpuppetstrings
(
)
Date: November 26, 2018 08:59AM
Missionaries were the start as to what brought me into TSCC in 2004, just like a lot of people here I'm sure.
Anyway, there was this one time when I was leaving a Folk Festival in Takoma Park, and boarded the Metro rail to go to a poetry reading in Arlington. As I boarded the train, I had a strange feeling that I was being watched and followed. Strange, right?
Well, as I sat down, a young woman sits in the seat right in front of me. I'm looking out of the window, but she awkwardly smiles over at me and out of politeness, I smile back. She asks me how my day is going, and I say well and ask her the same. She then observes me and notices the burgundy awareness ribbon charm that I was wearing on my necklace and says, "I see you have the breast cancer ribbon." I would correct her and say that the burgundy awareness ribbon represented Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM). She would ask me about it and asked me how I got through living with the condition. I said that a lot of patience and determination did, but I guess that was not the correct answer for her because she would ask me if I would say that God got me through it. When she would give her name by showing her name-tag, I had an "Oh shit!" moment. She would say that she would like to set up a place and time to meet with me and teach me about Jesus. I would politely decline because I had already been there and done that.
She would get off the train at the very next stop.
I should have known that this young woman might be a Mormon. It was 85 degrees and humid, and she was in a sweater. Not to generalize all Mormons through.
There was another time after work when I was walking home from the Metro station and from a distance, I see two elders/missionaries talking to one of my neighbors at the bus stop bench. I tried not to make eye-contact with them, because I did not want them to approach me, let alone find my apartment.
Well about an hour and a half later I hear a knock at my door. I automatically thought that it would be my brother's ex to drop off my nephew for his weekend visit. But it turned out to be the missionaries and I damn near had a panic attack.
They said, "Were you expecting us?" and I say, "No." and they said, "Oh, okay, you just looked a little surprised." Then they proceeded to say that they were from CoJCoLDS, that they had a message to share with me and that there was a meetinghouse right up the road from me. I would politely decline. I didn't want to get nasty with them because they have been so polite to me and my neighbors. They took my declination well, just like they've done when my neighbors declined.
As I read these posts, I can't help to think about the times when people in my first ward pressured me to serve a mission. I would eventually give in and get my papers ready, but that changed when my family lost their home, and over a year later when I was hospitalized for an AVM rupture. I'm quite glad that it did not work out.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/2018 09:58AM by severedpuppetstrings.