There are, as far as I can tell, 4 - 8 Mormons living in Moldova currently. Evangelizing. Walking around. Speaking Russian. Wearing suits and backpacks.
Once they invited us to watch a carol thing they'd organized on the TV.
Once they were carolling on a street corner in their suits and back packs.
Usually, they are chatting and walking, and I wave real big to them.
The thing is, Mormonism is my favorite sect of Christianity. I have never met a Mormon I didn't like a whole bunch. If not for the alcohol thing, and the believing in god thing, I'd totally sign up.
I often wonder why Mormonism, as a religion, makes such good people without fail. It has been suggested it's because they are so 'good works' based. This makes sense. Catholicism did that though. Why do Mormon church leaders succeed where Catholic church leaders just turned crazy greedy and charged their congregations money for their good deeds? What is the difference there?
One of the greater things is their two year commitment to evangelizing. Though I don't believe forcing people to believe a thing you believe is an ethically ok thing to do, I adore that followers are required to live somewhere away from home when they are young. From what I've been told by friends in Disney World (which hires Mormons by the drove) and the guys here in Balti, they have no choice in where they are sent. It can be anywhere in the world from Florida to Balti to Nepal.
When they find out, they are given language training. Extensive language training. We in the Peace Corps have 3 months of language and job training. Daily it's about 4 hours a day. They have twice as much daily for twice as long. Their language is phenomenal. I want to convert just to be sent out with that kind of knowledge. I got our of training and could barely float with my language.
When they are sent out, they are sent in a pair. When we are sent out we are sent singly. There are pros and cons to each of these. On our own we are fully immersed in the culture. That's the point. However, I am a surprisingly shy extrovert -- I need to be pushed to go out into new groups of people, but I have to think out loud. If I'd had a partner I'd have been more likely, immediately, to meet the village. If I'd had a partner this whole time, my plans and projects would have expanded more, much more quickly.
I wonder what they think when they see us. Do volunteers stand out more or less than them in their uniforms? Are we more or less effective in integration? What is the impact on their development projects with the religion factor? How much time do they spend with the religion factor? Do they have as many romances with host country nationals as we do?
And ultimately, who would win in a fight?
4 comments:
In a fight, my money is on the girl descended from Vikings.
Well, Mormon missionaries aren't allowed - by regulation - to get too friendly with the opposite sex. Dating is right-out. Not allowed.
Doesn't mean that the occasional missionary doesn't break the rules and do it anyway. And you have a lot of instances of LDS missionaries coming BACK to the country they served in after their tour of duty is up and bringing a wife back to the states with them.
Incidentally, I did my two year mission in southern Japan 1994 to 1996.
I wonder if it's the objective of the missionaries to integrate culturally. Providing a partner in the proselytizing offers both people the perspective of a temporary purveyor of prayer and canned peas…man, the ‘P’ alliteration went a little crazy there.
But seriously: do you or they go in with the intention of becoming a member of the culture or an offering for the people of the culture an outreach from a neighborly, friendly, but ultimately foreign cultural ambassador?
A shy extrovert? I’d laugh at the concept if I didn’t know exactly what you’re talking about.
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