Our ward meetings are reversed. We have classes first and Sacrament Meeting last. There's a ward in the chapel that clears out for us to go in, so in the process there's a lot of people standing around. I found a nice, cozy spot in the middle section on an end closest to the mother's room. I noticed there were a LOT of visitors so I asked Nick if there was a baby blessing, but he didn't know. I should probably mention that we're in a married/student ward, so visitors tend to stand out if they're younger than 19 and older than 35! The pew we were sitting on filled up with visitors so I turned to the guy sitting next to me and asked him if there was a blessing today. He said he had no idea, he was just visiting from California. (But it turned out there was also a baby blessing). We talked for a while and then right before the meeting started he mentioned that this was his first time coming to one of our meetings so he wanted to ask me a question. *Insert sudden pounding heart* All he asked was how we get all of our wards through our building. Phew! That's easy enough. Our church is unique as it has TWO chapels in it so we're able to get 8 wards (our entire stake) through our building every Sunday. I told him how it worked and why 4 wards have their meetings reversed in order to fit everyone in and then Sacrament started so that was the end of our conversation.
Throughout the whole meeting I felt really excited to be sitting next to someone who had never been to our church before. I listened extra closely to the talks which seemed so inspired for the potential investigators sitting in our congregation. They spoke on baptism, the holy ghost, and Joseph Smith. I kept wondering what he was thinking and I knew as soon as the meeting was over I was going to engage in more conversation with him. Sure enough, once the meeting ended I asked him what made him decide to come to our church when he said he was visiting from California and had never been to one of our services before. He said about 25 of them came from California to visit a friend in Logan. They went to Temple Square on Saturday so naturally they thought coming to our meeting was the next thing to do to see what we were all about.
We had a really pleasant conversation for about half an hour and Nick and I answered a lot of his questions. He had a copy of his bible with him and also a copy of the Book of Mormon. He talked with us about scriptures that the Sister Missionaries shared with him and asked us questions about the gospel and about us personally, like what we're going to school for and what not. He was really friendly and easy to talk to. Then about half way through 4 women came and joined him who were also from California and just as friendly. They seemed pretty disappointed that Sacrament meeting was last because they wanted to go to Sunday school. Finally, Nick said we should probably get going and made sure they had given their information to the Sister Missionaries to have missionaries come see them in California.
I left feeling on top of the world. I didn't serve a mission and it's not often that I have missionary experiences where I get to talk to someone who doesn't know much about what we believe in so it was really exciting to me. I kept thinking of all the things I wish I would have shared with them and what more I could have done. I even wished I had invited them over for dessert or something so we could talk more. I didn't want the experience to end.
Nick, however, had different feelings about it. He served his mission in Seattle and has had several experiences with people who like to bible bash. We went home and analyzed the situation and I still felt like their intentions were good and Nick was making a positive experience into a negative one. But the more we talked about it the more I realized it was too good to be true and they probably did have an agenda. There were just too many things that made me feel that way after talking about it more with Nick.
Nick's a ward missionary and happened to have a meeting later that day with the other missionaries and learned that someone else had the same experience we had with three men (one being the same guy we talked to). The person in our ward that talked with them recognized one of the guys that stands on Utah State's campus and preaches to the students as they pass by. Somehow these people from California are affiliated with this group that preaches on campus.
The guy we talked to was a pretty talented bible basher. He seemed so sincere in his questions and would talk about specific scriptures in the Book of Mormon and say why it was confusing to him because it seemed to contradict scriptures in the Bible. I didn't ask him what version his bible was even though I wanted to and he never said what church he attends in San Diego, but he talked about it a few times.
The weirdest part to me was thinking about his original question before the meeting started. "I've never been to one of your meetings before so can I ask you a question? How do you get all your wards through your building?" Seems like a fairly odd question for someone to ask when there could have been a million other things for him to wonder about. When we finally finished our conversation and left I noticed the women went and sat in the foyer and later learned the guy went and talked with those other two men to someone else in our ward for an hour. But I feel like he asked me how we get all our wards through our building to learn what times the other wards start so they could attend as many meetings as they could and talk with as many people as they could. I feel like our entire stake had this really strange experience, and I don't know if they actually did, it just seems that way.
Here are the facts:
- 25 people came from California (a 14 hour drive) to "visit a friend in Logan"
- while here they decided to visit Temple Square and felt attending our church was the next step
- He had a copy of our Book of Mormon with him that I assumed the Sister Missionaries gave him, but Nick and I both noticed there were a lot of notes written in the front and he had a few scriptures highlighted throughout the book.
- He seemed pretty knowledgeable with the scriptures he kept referring to in the Book of Mormon. It wasn't so much that he knew the whole book, but he definitely knew which scriptures he wanted to talk about.
- He kept claiming that the scriptures he had questions about were scriptures the Sister Missionaries shared with him at Temple Square, but Nick knew those particular scriptures wouldn't be something the Sisters talked about during a first encounter with a potential investigator. Maybe after several discussions, but not on day one.
- He remembered a lot of details that we shared with him about us including using our names after only telling him once. Maybe that's a weird point, but it just seemed strange considering it was a casual conversation and we would never see each other again.
- He kept making points and asking questions that we didn't fully know how to answer without him having a better understanding of other aspects of the things we believe in.
The good news is this experience has strengthened my testimony. I've realized I may not have all the answers or fully understand everything that we believe in, but I have faith in Heavenly Father and I know what I believe in is true. The guy asked us what we liked the most about our church. Nick answered his question and it didn't circle back to me so I didn't get the chance to answer, but what came to my mind first was the way I live my life because I have the gospel. If nothing else, I'm a better person because of what I believe in and there is nothing wrong with that. I can understand why so many people hate "the Mormons" after taking a stand on Prop 8, but at the end of the day, what's so bad about being good? Why are we protested against so often when we are a Christ-worshiping people who want nothing more than to become like Him?
Nick and I could be making something out of nothing, and I really hope that we are, but I wanted to share our story to first, make people aware that something like this can happen even in our own church buildings, and second, find out if anyone has any similar stories.What are your thoughts on the matter? Would you have handled things differently?
6 comments:
Hey, the way I see it, you can never feel bad about bearing your testimony to anyone. They can take it for what it's worth, but you never know what "seeds" you've planted, and it only strengthens yours to bear it more often. Hopefully if they go to enough meetings, something will hit them eventually.
Isn't it interesting that their approach to you was lie after lie? It seems like a strange way to share a message of what they believe is truth. I think you did the only thing you could...be sincere and hopefully at some point that will sink in.
That is rather disturbing to hear of this group doing something like that. Frankie has had some encounters with the group up on campus, so hearing your story has made him a little upset. But I am so happy to hear that this experience has strengthened your testimony, because that is the opposite of what they were trying to do. That in itself is another testimony builder; when faced with questions about your faith, your faith only grows stronger. How could the church not be true?
I enjoyed your comments about your testimony being strengthened. Although this guy was probably not really investigating, it gave you a taste of being a missionary. Don't ever forget that feeling. It's awesome!
And I don't think your church meetings are backwards. I think it is great to have Sacrament last. I wish so bad my ward would make Sacrament last. Here's an example: With this ward, you get released from a calling, but you still have to fulfill your calling because the new person is not ready. But when Sacrament is last, you fulfill your calling, for example, as a primary president or counselor knowing that "today is my last time in this calling," then you go to Sacrament, get released and the new person has a week to get ready to start the new calling. I actually wish we would have Sacrament last. I would love it if this ward was not backwards.
That is totally crazy!! I've never had an experience like that before. It sounds like you handled it the best you could though.
The other day I was asking Rich why it seems like the LDS church gets an unnecessary bad wrap, he said, "the truth will always be attacked.". Um duh, I thought. Satan is focused on destroying the truth, do of course it is going to happen.
Thank goodness we didn't see anyone like this. Pretty random if you ask me. I think I would've felt a little violated as well. It's one thing to bible bash outside the TSC on campus. It's an entirely different thing to come to a church service and try to bible bash. Some people just don't get it.
Post a Comment