tonight while picking up some dog food at a grocery store down the road from my bro's house (had stopped by to trade cars) i had a little conversation with some mormon missionaries in the parking lot. as with any of these things you always have a better conversation after the fact. this however is more of what i wanted to say but tried to be gracious to their efforts and context. i called him 'elder' that was on his name tag, however i later found out when his friend joined him, duh, this was just a title given them. funny, elder wasn't any older than some of my youth.
elder: hi there sir
me: hi elder how are you doing?
[are you really going to talk to me?]
elder: can i talk with you a minute? i'm with the church of Jesus Christ & latter day saints.
me: you can walk with me to my car.
[meaning the conversation ends there]
my name is gavin, i'm a youth pastor with the united methodist church
[don't even go where you are going, i am committed to a church already]
small talk about hendersonville & tornados
elder: we believe in Jesus Christ and resetting of the church by prophet Joseph Smith. have you heard of him?
me: i know of your mr. smith
[and i think the history of your faith is messed up]
i can appreciate what you are doing, but i can't agree with some of the foundational pieces of his teachings
[i think he's a crack pot!!]
elder: i'd like to give you a copy of our book (at this time buddy joins us)
me: i already have your book on my book shelf and have gone through it some
[i took a hotel copy to really understand how crazy you all can be]
elder: you read it and haven't found it to be true?
me: i have grown up in faith and come to believe that Old & New Testaments are true and that is all i need
[recognize buddy, you grew up in your church i grew up in mine]
elder: i've come to know our book is true through my prayer life
me: that's nice. are you saying i don't have a prayer life?
[because i do, and it's never told me that i needed to be mormon]
elder: i am just asking you to pray to God asking if it's true
me: i don't really need to do that
[God is not leading me to join your church, dismiss centuries of Christian spiritual life because your one guy had a golden book come out of a mountain, read for one transcription, never seen and then returned back to the mountain as setting the church back to Christ's original plan... yeah, not feelin that one]
elder: if you pray to God about it i know you'll find it to be true
me: look, we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one
[i'm getting tired of this]
this has been a nice conversation
[i don't know if we were really conversing]
elder: you'll find out that this is true if you pray to God about it
me: right, i get what you're saying and i appreciate what you are doing, but i don't need to pray about this being true
[don't you get it, i'm in a good spot with my faith, i don't need yours]
elder: take this card and visit the website we can come talk to you further
me: thanks, have a good evening
[whatever]
