that was unexpected
last weekend i was in jackson to begin filming on no budget's third blah! bond movie (check out the no budget link to the right if you'd like to see the first two).
but that isn't what my post is about.
on the way home from jackson, i stopped in warrington (maybe 10 miles from the 70/40 exit) to get gas and food. while i was at the gas station pumping gas, i noticed that a car had pulled up perpendicular to mine. i ignored it for a while, unitll i could see out of the corner of my eye that the people inside were trying to get my attention. there were two young men in the car, both in white dress shirts.
my immediate thought: missionaries.
and i was apparently correct in my assumption: i moved a little closer to the car, and they gave the whole 'can we share a brief message with you at your home' spiel, to which i gave them my 'funny you should ask...' spiel. and they were on their way. after they left, a couple of things struck me as odd about the encounter:
1) they were not wearing name tags
2) they said they were trying to get to know people in the area, yet they were approaching a person at a gas station off of a major highway.
3) male missionaries aren't allowed to give the discussions to a woman alone in a house (right?)
4) they never got out of the car
this led me to the following conclusions. either:
-they weren't very good missionaries
-they were going to very extreme lengths to meet people
or
-they were not missionaries at all
i'm interested on everyone's thoughts here. am i the only one who thinks this was an extremely bizarre tracting effort? any former missionaries want to comment on the appropriateness of this approach?
but that isn't what my post is about.
on the way home from jackson, i stopped in warrington (maybe 10 miles from the 70/40 exit) to get gas and food. while i was at the gas station pumping gas, i noticed that a car had pulled up perpendicular to mine. i ignored it for a while, unitll i could see out of the corner of my eye that the people inside were trying to get my attention. there were two young men in the car, both in white dress shirts.
my immediate thought: missionaries.
and i was apparently correct in my assumption: i moved a little closer to the car, and they gave the whole 'can we share a brief message with you at your home' spiel, to which i gave them my 'funny you should ask...' spiel. and they were on their way. after they left, a couple of things struck me as odd about the encounter:
1) they were not wearing name tags
2) they said they were trying to get to know people in the area, yet they were approaching a person at a gas station off of a major highway.
3) male missionaries aren't allowed to give the discussions to a woman alone in a house (right?)
4) they never got out of the car
this led me to the following conclusions. either:
-they weren't very good missionaries
-they were going to very extreme lengths to meet people
or
-they were not missionaries at all
i'm interested on everyone's thoughts here. am i the only one who thinks this was an extremely bizarre tracting effort? any former missionaries want to comment on the appropriateness of this approach?
posted by suz at 11:21 AM
3 Comments:
That is highly unusual. AFAIK, Missionaries are only allowed to not wear tags in dangerous areas (Russia for example). While they are encouraged to talk to everyone, I've never (and never heard of) anyone approaching someone like that before. However, it isn't unusual for elders to approach single women, but it is expected that the contact would be turned over to sisters for follow-up. Ergo, generally they would not set an appointment, but instead get contact info.
So, while the other facts are a bit odd, they aren't necessarily red flags. Unless Warrington is now full of rampaging neo-communist anti-American gangs, they should have been wearing tags.
well, they had the lingo down...they said 'oh, so you're a member', and 'maybe we'll get transferred to your area someday'. thinking back now, i'm not sure if they introduced themselves as elders...but i couldnt hear them very well from out of their car. they may have said they were missionaries from the church...but no names were given.
and just for the record: i love missionaries, i think they're great, and i respect the work that they do. the sister missionaries here stop by once and a while and i always let them in to chat. it's just that after this particular incident, i felt very...uneasy. maybe because the approach was so different, but...i dont know. it just didnt seem right.
I have no idea why, illogical as it is, but even in Lebanon, I assume that white shirts=missionaries.
My guess? They were former missionaries who thought they stood a better chance of getting your number like that than through standard pick-up lines. "Flirt to Convert" I think.
Good job listening to your instincts. Creepy.
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