So I had my first real missionary experience today...actually, I'm kind of in the middle of it since the "investigator" is still here and asking me questions as I write this.
I have grown up around mostly LDS people so I haven't been presented with a lot of these opportunities. And a lot of the nonmembers in Utah know at least something about the religion. But today I had the chance to talk to my Israeli neighbor about my faith, and it was a really good experience.
I learned one main lesson:
Just because I'm going on a mission doesn't mean that I will automatically be good at it (not that I was in any way expecting that before). I will for sure make a lot of mistakes and struggle to express myself. But in doing so, I will learn a lot about myself and what I know.
It started when we were setting up Christmas in our apartment, and he asked me (I actually don't know how he even knew I am Mormon) if I celebrate Christmas since my religion is not Christian. This led to a discussion on everything from the temple to CTR rings to premarital sex to gambling to the Prophet to birth control to South Park's interpretation of Mormonism to my interpretation of God (my roommate: "oh my heck did you just ask her who her God is?") to Israelites coming to America. And so on. It was really kind of fun and less scary than I was expecting to answer questions asked by someone with the lowest amount of knowledge about my religion. And it was really great to learn about his native religion, even though he is atheist.
And he is definitely not getting baptized anytime soon, but I hope I at least answered some questions, cleared up some misconceptions, and left him with a positive impression of Mormons as a whole. Which I think is the most important first step. And I think a lot of people who live in less LDS areas get these sort of opportunities all the time, but as for me, it was a memorable conversation.
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