Posted by:
ificouldhietokolob
(
)
Date: December 01, 2017 10:27AM
I got to know one local pair of mishies, who I'd encounter regularly in the local public library.
They'd be there on lots of days other than p-day, mainly because they had little or nothing to do.
Shortly after the more senior one had been transferred in, they approached me at the library, trying to do their mormon sales pitch.
I let them know I knew more about it than they did, did a mission, and was now a former mormon. But I treated them nicely, related some funny mission stories, laughed about the deprivations and how they didn't "tract" any more, and parted on good terms.
For the next 5 months or so, while both were still in the area, every time I'd encounter them they'd say hello, and then ask me if I needed any "service" done. They were desperate to have something to do. And bored out of their minds.
My local town of about 10,000 is very rural, very spread out, and has no apartment blocks or busy shopping centers or anything of the sort where they could "meet & greet." The library is about all they had. And nobody wanted anything to do with them. The local members (used to be 2 wards, now down to 1, and quite small) had busy lives and didn't seem to be turning over any "friends" to teach.
Usually I'd tell them I didn't need anything, and that I was sorry they were so bored. One time, feeling pity, I asked if they wanted to come help me clear brush from my property (fire season was coming, and I needed my defensible space). They lept at the chance. I told them there was one condition: no white shirts and ties. Jeans and t-shirts...they were gonna get dirty. They agreed.
So they showed up at 9AM. I fed 'em breakfast. Then we all got weed wackers, rakes, and hoes, and went to the bottom of my back hill, clearing brush for about 3 hours. They seemed to relish the hard work, doing something physical was welcome after sitting around reading scriptures for weeks on end.
Got 2 acres cleared in record time. Fed 'em lunch afterwards. I asked what they were going to do after that -- a couple of shrugs, then, "Guess we'll go clean up and head back to the library." Desperate pleas from them for me to ask them again if I needed ANYTHING else. Not a single word about church the entire time (which they also seemed glad about).
Not long after, the junior one got transferred out. I ran into the remaining Sr. one and his new comp at the library, and the Sr. one in a rare moment of truth confided in me that his new comp was "really green and really stupid." We both laughed when I called the new kid a "molly mormon."
Then the Sr. one got transferred out. Never hit it off with any of the others like those two. They must have some new instructions, 'cause they don't hang around the library as much now, and if I try to say hello to them, they always immediately ask if I want to know about their church -- no casual conversation anymore.
They're just kids doing what they've been told to do. I feel sorry for them, and also still in a way despise what they represent -- having been there myself. Poor ignorant bastards.