A couple of Jehovah's Witness guys came to my place when I was in college. It was the usual pre-rehearsed, scripted stuff. I let them talk a while and they felt very good about themselves. They came back the following week and I was prepared. I changed the subject and began to teach them. After about 10 minutes, they were almost panicked and couldn't leave fast enough. They agreed to meet me at another location at a specific time a few days later. Never had another JW ever knock my door while I lived there. A few years ago where I am now, one of them (a female) knocked on my door and had her son with her. I politely challenged one of her points and disproved it. It really threw her for a loop and she got very argumentative, defensive and rude. (I think she was embarrassed having her point so obviously nuked in front of her son). She then walked off.
I used to give out flyers, ask people to test out perfume, do phone marketing, etc.. COnsidering how annoying THOSE jobs were, I'd imagine doing door to door missionary work is extremely difficult. At the same time, I don't understand it since everyone has access to the internet now. I would think that with the technology available to us, these kinds of activities would be exclusive to countries or areas that are not as acquainted with the internet.
Not sure about all instances, but I believe for young Mormons it is done as much for the young missionaries to door as it is for the people they are trying to convert.
I go door to door around my neighborhood giving out Wolf Parade mix cds, telling the neighbors they too can be saved from having poor taste in music.
I don't particularly enjoy being approached but theyre really nice in general. Can't hate on people like that even if they do get a little intrusive and annoyig
Not to diss a lifestyle or anything, but man, I can't even imagine living like this. Living for that long with no entertainment but to go door to door (and get yelled at/threatened half the time) seems brutal. Out of curiosity, are you still a mormon?
Yes I am, and yes, it is by no means an easy lifestyle. It requires a pretty seriously commitment. Another thing I failed to mention earlier is that, not only do you not get paid, but you actually have to pay your own way. (usually by saving up as much as you can beforehand, and then getting help from your family, and sometimes from your local home church if they are able) ot It's definitely one of those life experiences that really help you grow up fast, but at the same time you come away with some really amazing experiences from it. Having said that though, I'm pretty sure I will never do anything again in my life, business, personal, or otherwise, that is so hard day in and day out.
For whatever it's worth, in some places (especially in parts of America) they have cars. I actually had a car in about half of the places I was in. It's usually a function of the size of your area, available public transportation, and the population density. (i'm guessing, I didn't actually make any of those decisions)
I know Mormonism very well, and many of my friends are returned Mormon missionaries. Regardless of what I see of their religion, two things I want to say about Mormon missionaries: 1. Just like military services, it's a very admirable thing. I would love to say that I can spend two years of my youth making the sacrifice, standing up for and preaching the things I believe in. It's commitment and service to something much bigger than myself. I'm sure after coming back from that experience, you are a better person to the society. In fact, I wish to go on missions for my own faith someday, and hope my children would share the same sentiment. 2. It is heavily institutionalized in the Mormon culture. I know many of my friends feel pressured going on missions by their families, friends and prospect of finding a good Mormon spouse, although they never regret going after coming back. There are the two practical results of institutionalizing missionary work in the Mormon church: a. the expansion of the church through conversion; b. the retaining and development of young church members. People usually don't know and talk about the second one. There is a statistics showing that less than 50% of young Mormon male stay in the church if they don't go on missions, but over 90% of them who go on missions become life-long Mormons. In the end, don't be rude to these young men (or women). In their hearts, they believe they are serving their church and your best interest. As a society, it's better for people to say "no thank you" rather than "f you" if we don't want to accept others' ideas. Darkhorse, since we know each other from way back, I hope I'm being fair with my insider-outsider view. Feel free to comment if you feel I'm being unfair here.
I have the utmost respect for those committed enough to their beliefs to subject themselves to the rigors and ridicule of door-to-door prosyletizing. While I state upfront that I am not a believer nor interested in conversion, I nearly always invite them in to rest or cool off, offer food or drink, and use of the bathroom. As a book collector, many of these missionaries have left me with very nice tokens of thanks as an addition to my bookshelves. Whether you believe in a religion/god or not, the least we can offer others is courtesy.
I would feel this way except for the fact that they support a homophobic and bigoted institution. The Mormon church money that went into Prop 8 in California has ensured that I will not feel sorry or give support to Mormon missionaries that come to our door. We have had some come by and I just tell them firmly why I won't listen to them, then shut the door.
"Cool story, bro" time... After I had graduated college, I was crashing with my brother and his roommate in San Marcos while looking for a job in Austin. My brother and I got a tad drunk one night and called the number for the free bible, using our roommate's name. The guys showed up the very next day, bible in hand, looking for our roomie. They were a bit pushy because for all they knew, he had actually called them. My brother and I had to go to the back of the apartment before we exploded in laughter. All we could hear at that point was "I don't want no damn bible! Get the f*** out of here!" They left...but they came back at least 3 or 4 more times over the next couple of months to see if he had changed his mind. He got more and more angry each time. Ahhhhhh....good times. Lately, there's a group of them coming through our neighborhood in Round Rock. I wasn't home for one of their attempts. My wife was very polite in trying to ask them to leave. When they weren't listening, she pointed straight at the mezuzah on the door. That didn't seem to phase them, so she just slammed it in their faces. Yeah, they can be nice and helpful and, in theory, are trying to do a good thing. Sometimes, they're just a**holes who don't seem to care about what others think and are trying to tell them. They can be worse than used car salesmen.
I don't have a problem with this at all because it's practically one of the stated goals of sending young men out to serve a mission. In addition to the basic teaching and hard work aspect, part of the deal is supposed to strengthening your own faith through trials, etc. In fact, in the past you used to see more guys that were more or less "wishy-washy" in their faith being sent out in an effort to "save them" or whatever. But what happens with that is you end up with some bad apples who just aren't ready for that kind of lifestyle, and they often turn sour about the whole thing. In more recent years, there's been a lot more focus on screening the young men and women who want to go out to make sure they're genuinely prepared and committed to the whole thing. You still get some guys who are a little overzealous, just like you get some guys who are a little on the lazy side. I mean, everyone still has their personality. But at the end of the day, most people come away from it a better person. For my own "cool story, bro," one of my more entertaining stops was in Steilacoom, Washington. My companion and I lived about 2 blocks away from Western State Hospital, which is basically a huge mental institution built inside an old fort. Evidently it's the largest mental institution west of the Mississippi. Anyway, we used to average 2 to 3 phone calls there a day for people requesting free Bibles and stuff. You basically treat those calls with a grain of salt, since a good portion of the people at that facility aren't really in a position to a coherent conversation about much, but you would try to visit everyone and spend some time with them to try to brighten their day. We were practically celebrities there. The way the facility was laid out, pretty much the more dangerous you were, the higher floor you were on. One day we got a call that sent us up to the top floor, so we were a little apprehensive. (it turned out we ended up meeting with a guy who had been convicted for murder, but he was a super calm, friendly guy, but that's not actually the story) As soon as we arrived on the floor, a patient about 100 feet away saw us and yelled out "Elders!" This guy was probably 6'5", gangly, and had a fro that was about 2 feet in diameter. (he was white, so he looked something like Sideshow Bob) He took off running towards us, and I'm sure we both turned bone-white we and almost panicked. But when he got about 20 feet away he stopped, and started playing air guitar and making "DJUH DJUH DJUH DJUH" guitar sounds. As far as I know, he kept doing that until we left about an hour later.
It's always a good idea to start a holy war on your front porch. Seriously, I don't open the door for anyone unless I'm expecting them. No good can come from it.
I don't any more. Quite frankly, I don't like it when people come to our front door unless it's expected or a UPS delivery.
I get them in headlocks, two at a time, and don't release until they promise me they're converting to Catholicism.
