Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints missionaries focus on helping others
Mormon missionaries, serving the Victoria area, visit with the Rippa family Wednesday evening for prayer and faith sharing. Elder Justin Jager and Colton Tidwell discuss scripture and elaborate on the teachings of Joseph Smith.
Print- •
-
Share
- Share this item
-
Grab the link
Copy and paste the link:
- Blog about it
- Close
- •
-
8 Comments
- •
Favorite- •
For more information on the missionaries or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, contact the Texas Houston South Mission at 281-565-7117.
Mission Victoria is what they call it, and their title, elder, is a bit deceiving for the youthful group of 20-something-year-old missionaries in town.
"Victoria is awesome," said Elder Johnathon Cobabe, a 19-year-old Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints missionary from Washington. He's been in the city for little more than a month teaching and training.
"Victoria is the best place in Texas, and dare I say the world," added Elder Dayton Law, his 20-year-old trainer, flashing a bright smile. Law gave up a cabinet-making business in Utah to become a missionary.
"This is the good life out here doing this kind of stuff," he said.
The two wear short-sleeved, white shirts and ties, the basic uniform for their line of work. They carry small knapsacks filled with Bibles and several copies of the Book of Mormon.
In regular clothes, you could probably mistake the former high school athletes for fraternity members or college freshman. But their purpose here is different.
Six missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teach in the Crossroads area, and about 150 in the Texas Houston South Mission, a region from Houston to the Crossroads area. The youths serve two-year assignments, mostly right after high school graduation and at their own expense.
"People think we get paid to do this," said Elder Colton Tidwell, 20, who's been in Victoria for a little more than a month. "They don't realize that we pay to do this."
Tidwell and his trainer Elder Justin Jager, 20, chatted about life as a missionary while knocking on doors and leaving tracts. The day is gorgeous, but most people respectfully decline to hear more.
"Hopefully, we don't get too many doors slammed," Tidwell said with a soft smile after ringing a doorbell.
"Knocking on doors we get that," Jager said. "A lot of people respect us, but a lot of times just those 30 seconds is not enough."
Door knocking is not the preferred way of meeting people, but when the going gets tough the missionaries hit the streets to drum up new interests. The process is worthwhile, they'll say, but often discouraging.
"There's just a lot of people that refuse to listen no matter what," Tidwell said. "You want to help them, but sometimes they just won't listen to you. That's just one of those things."
The four young men lead disciplined lives. They awaken at 6:30 a.m., prepare for their day with prayer and devotionals, then work from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. with sparse breaks between for lunch and dinner. They share everything and travel together everywhere.
"Missionary work is the only place where you can put two strangers together with one goal in mind," Law said. "To reap the success of your labor."
Life is simple as a missionary. The young men receive a $135 monthly stipend and a church-issued vehicle with limited mileage. They ride their bikes more when they're out of miles.
TV or computers with Internet are not allowed. E-mails and written letters only once a week, and phone calls to family twice a year at Christmas and Mothers Day. Girlfriends or friends are not allowed at their apartments. But the restrictions are purposeful and help keep them focused on their mission.
"Family's just an amazing thing. It's one of the greatest things that we have on this earth," Jagar said. "But having that constant contact with your family down here - that would be a distraction because we're not here to talk with our family, we're here to help others out."
Corbabe agreed. "We have eternity with our families," he said. "We have two years without them."
As for the future, the missionaries have the same plans as any other young men. They hope someday to have families, go to college. Law hopes eventually to return to his business, and Tidwell, a dirt bike he used to ride. For now, the sacrifices are well worth it.
"The scripture teaches us over and over again if we put God first, He's going to take care of us and bless us with the things that we need," Law said.
Cobabe added his thoughts. "It comes together no matter what, because it's God's will."
Comments
By the way, the missionaries do not go out proselyting until 10am every day, this is standard throughout the world. However there is another religion that does go out early and often in pairs, dressed about the same as LDS missionaries and they go out primarily, and I dare even say only, on Saturdays. It is very common for people to get those particular proselyters mixed up with LDS missionaries. When I served my mission, many people had falsely assumed that they were us, however, we never went out before 10 am to proselyte. as it is stated in the article above:
" They awaken at 6:30 a.m., prepare for their day with prayer and devotionals, then work from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. with sparse breaks between for lunch and dinner. They share everything and travel together everywhere."
I would replace "devotionals" with personal scripture study (8-9am) and companionship study (9-10am).
I apologize for those missionaries who have seemed to be pushy. It is sometimes hard when you have been working for so many days and nobody wants to listen to you. I found that when someone listened even slightly, I got really excited because we prepared so much everyday, that I just wanted to teach or explain at least some of what I had prepared.
November 8, 2009 at 8:56 p.m.I guess they read the local paper VBB.
The most annoying for me, is when the LDS missionary s knock on my door at 6am on a Saturday.
I tried to be as nice as I could saying no but they insisted, so I closed the door on them.
November 8, 2009 at 5:28 p.m.After my beloved grandmother passed away there was a knock on my door, I opened it to find some LDS members who asked if I had experienced a recent death. I stated I had & they asked how I was dealing with it. I thought , how weird that they know this...I responded as to how I was dealing with her loss & they told me I was doing it WRONG! They then handed me a pamphlet that was about dealing with death the LDS way. I was horrified & asked them to leave, they refused....it seems they are like vampires, once invited in, you can't get rid of them. Maybe they wouldn't have to deal with rudeness if they would accept a courteous no thanks instead of pushing themselves on people on private property.
November 8, 2009 at 5:17 p.m.I think this article was very successful in presenting facts about the missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I have served a mission for the Church and wouldn't replace it for the world. All too often, people get the wrong idea about about the church and the missionaries, but if they will just take a second to realize for themselves exactly why the missionaries are out there, people might not be so afraid to talk to them. They are just normal human beings doing the best they can to help others. In addition to that, some even give up more than what was mentioned above and they do this because they love the Lord and follow Him the best they can. In my opinion, there truely is no greater work than that.
I invite all who have read this article to be more kind to the Missionaries, and to listen to them. For they have likely come a long way to talk to you and others. It is not easy to be a missionary, they are often yelled at, belittled, beat up, chased by dogs and even an occational death threat. Remember, their whole perpose is to Invite others to come unto Christ, so don't be offended if they invite you.
I give my personal thanks to the author of this article. It is very refreshing to see that there are still honest reporter/writers out there. thank you! :)
November 8, 2009 at 4:38 p.m.This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
November 6, 2009 at 9:24 a.m.This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
November 6, 2009 at 9:14 a.m.Don't know what i said was that bad! I just don't care for people knocking on my door and bothering me.
November 5, 2009 at 9:37 a.m.This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
November 5, 2009 at 7:04 a.m.