A Navy buddy of mine was hanging out with us at the house this afternoon when the doorbell rang. I wasn't expecting anyone else to stop by, so I looked questioningly at Hubs. He shrugged his shoulders and went to the front door to answer the bell.
Navy buddy continued talking to me; I could hear Sean talking to someone and I assumed it was maybe one of the neighbors stopping by to introduce themselves (the neighborhood seems pretty friendly so far). He was gone for a good ten minutes and when he returned, I looked up. "Who was at the door?" I asked.
"The Mormons," he replied as he handed me a small slip of paper.
The Mormons?? And then I remembered. We live in a civilian neighborhood now. We don't live on a military base with a handy-dandy 'No Solicitation' policy anymore. We are once again fair game when it comes to any and all kinds of door-to-door solicitation. Groovy.
Curious, I looked at the slip of paper and this was what I saw:
That's it. The other side simply says "Faith in Jesus Christ can help you resolve personal and family challenges."
Now, since I am in fact a Christian and I do believe in Jesus, this was not a news flash to me. What I do want to know is how is this card supposed to give me a burning desire to become a Mormon? Just curious.
"What is this? A Jesus Collector Card? Is it like a baseball card?" I asked. "And what were you talking to them for so long about?"
"Oh, nothing really... they were two older ladies and they were really nice and were just inviting us to come to their church, and I told her that we're new here and we haven't found a church yet but we're not Mormons so we probably wouldn't be checking out their church in particular."
Hubs is a much nicer, kinder person than me and is usually much friendlier and chattier with strangers. He'll linger and chat politely all day long; I'm way more impatient and chat politely over my shoulder as I'm quickly walking away. Just throwing that out there. I would've been all, "Oh, no thank-you!" in my friendliest, politest, not-interested voice and just (politely) shut the door in their faces.
Hmmm... "So I still don't get what the card is for?" I queried. Hubs just shrugged his shoulders and went back to conversing with Navy buddy.
I am now the proud owner of a Mormon Jesus Collector Card that I have no idea what to do with. It seems sort of sacreligious and irreverent to throw it away.... put it on the fridge maybe?
I totally want my own Jesus collector card collection! I wonder how many there are in a set... AND do they have different powers? Like, you could play Top Trumps when you've collected a set!
ReplyDeleteAll we get are leaflets about doom and the world ending.
On a more serious note, you're thinking about what's it supposed to say about the church, but as you're thinking about the meaning of the card, you're helping them achieve what they've gone out for; you are thinking about their church. Quite smart really; confuse people and you can achieve ANYTHING! :)
xx
The ladies walking the streets of the neighborhood, knocking on doors, handing things out.....when I see them out the window, I start yelling at the kids, "Don't answer the door!!". I'm not exactly sure why I've always done this but I guess I just don't want to be annoyed.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your collector card. You crack me up!!
Kinda Weird. haha!! But you handled it with such class, I must say.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I am one of those "collector card women", not because I'm Mormon, but because sometimes at restaurants I leave these little encouragement cards with Bible scriptures on them for the waiter/waitresses with our check. Just something to brighten their day and remember that God loves them. I bet they run now when they see me coming!
I say, use it as a bookmark! Problem solved. No trashing it, and no looking at it every time you want a snack out of the fridge. ;)
We used to get Jehovah's Witnesses ALL THE TIME. It drove me nuts, I finally put a sign on our glass door that said, "No solicitors, Girl Scouts Welcome."
ReplyDeleteI'm almost always polite (but firm) with the Jehovah's Witnesses we get at the door. But one day we were running late for an appointment and my wife was having trouble getting away from two at our front door (she was nowhere close to being ready to go). So when I overheard them telling her "sometimes you see bad people around you getting ahead and having no problems" I went to the door and told them we were those people and I shut the door. My wife didn't know whether to laugh or be mad at me--I think she did both.
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of comments so far on my post about the banner/button. So if you want to go back and check them out. I think I'm gonna look into the bloggy blog designs.
ReplyDeleteI HATE it when that happens. About every 6 months, deacons from the Babtist church come knocking on the door...even though I've told them time after time that I am EPISCOPALIAN.
ReplyDeleteFriday afternoon, someone was knocking on my door. I went to answer it, and was pretty scared when I saw this man...looked like a child molester. He said he was from the Marengo County Rescue Squad and asked if I could give a donation. I told him (lied) that I didn't have any cash or checks on me. Instead of leaving, he kept pressing--what time will your husband get home?--could ya'll just leave a check stuck in the door for me?
I was like, WTF? Where do these people get off?
Did I spell Baptist wrong? Sorry.
ReplyDeleteThe fridge sounds like a good place for it. :-) We have dogs at home. People tend to not stay at the door long.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment! It means a lot.
@ Susie Q - Good call, if they return I'll ask!
ReplyDelete@ MaryMc, Steph, and RicAdeMus - those are all excellent ideas for if they come back! (and I could fake the having kids part. or yell at Hubby instead.)
@ Sarah - wow, that is definitely a creepy story, I would've been totally freaking out. Ugh!
i am missing out! every saturday i get visitors, but they hand me these lengthy pamphlets...i want trading cards!
ReplyDelete