Knocking on Doors

Success in conveying the ways I find joy in my religion will happen, if I can communicate by the spirit in such a way that it speaks to your soul and touches your heart. 

Let’s see how I’m doing, starting with . . . the joys of proselytizing.  Proselytizing is what Mormon missionaries do when they go out in the world to preach the gospel. 

My first-hand experiences with proselytizing came after my husband retired and we served as missionary companions in Venezuela and Peru.  We wore name tags pinned on our lapel that read, “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” For us, it symbolized taking the Savior’s name upon us and we wore that tag over our hearts. We knocked on doors and did our best to ingratiate ourselves to anyone who answered:  “We are representatives of Jesus Christ with a message he wants us to share with you.  He knows you by name; he loves you.  He wants you to come home.  May we come in and explain how he would like to bless your life?” 

Ninety-five percent of the time, we were rejected.  An elder who served a mission in Texas described it this way: 

       "We knocked and waited for a whole litany of responses that ranged from courteous and civil to curiously bland and blunt: 'I already have a church.' 'Why don't you call on my neighbor? She listens to the Tabernacle Choir every Sunday morning.'  'Can't talk right now.  I have a doctor appointment.'  'You were here six months ago!'  'I told you the last time not to come back!'   Sometimes – rarely, but sometimes – even a coveted invitation to come in.
   
      "We knocked and waited with radar sensitivity for barely audible sounds.  Vibrations, really.  Imagined whispers that made us shiver in an awkward sort of way.  Someone was home, but not answering."

“So how,” you are probably wondering, “did you find joy in doing that?  Are you trying to tell me there is joy in being rejected?”

Not really.  It wasn’t about the rejections.  We weren’t there to win a popularity contest.  We were there to answer a call from the Savior to preach his gospel to all nations.  The pleasure we found was the presence that accompanied us, the soul-tingling sense of a spiritual companion that was both magnetic and majestic. 

We were sent out to reprove and to teach and we found joy in the Savior’s promise recorded in latter-day scriptures:

   "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."  (Doctrine & Covenants 84:88)

Because the charge to proclaim the gospel is still in effect, I now have a commitment to assist our Father in Heaven as “an everyday missionary.”   I am knocking on your door via the internet.  If you are willing to invite me into your life, it will be my pleasure to invite you to come unto Christ. 


He is waiting to welcome you home with outstretched arms, with love and affection, with kindness and tenderness, benevolence and mercy, compassion and healing, patience and humility, purity and divinity, justice and virtue, confidence and optimism, enthusiasm and

                                                .  .  .   JOY!