Alright so a couple, for lack of a better word, strange things happened today. Before I start I guess I should give some background. I live in a densely Mormon populated area where I go to a university. I've lived in this town for some time and I am just biding my time till I graduate so I can leave. There is two parts to the story both of which are crazy.
A friend I have known since high school and I were leaving a late afternoon class. We were walking out to one of the many parking lots on campus. We were talking and catching up, since it has been a while since we've talked. She is not Mormon but has lived here her entire life in this town and is also wanting to leave. The conversation came around to it being hard living in a place like this with regards to making friends, finding jobs etc. It came up that I'm no longer a witness anymore and that religion is just odd.
I suppose I should mention that this last semester the dubs had set up a booth in the middle of campus. Which is irritating for several reasons but mostly for the fact it is a small town and I know all of them and try to avoid seeing their faces. Campus was the one place I felt relatively safe, which changed as soon as they showed up. So I have been avoiding them which is not easy since they situated themselves right in the middle of campus.
Anyways I asked my friend if she had seen them and she said yes and asked me if I had heard the story about an incident that happened. I hadn't so she proceeds to tell me: a guy she knows who is a geology major and most likely an atheist came across the dubs booth. He stopped and started a conversation with them which after a very short time went down hill. He said that they attacked his beliefs and he lost his cool and dropped the F-bomb on them(which would have been hilarious to see).
But the the dubs called campus security on him and the whole thing escalated. The dubs were going to file a restraining order against him but were talked out of it because it would prevent the student from coming to school because he would then be within 250 ft. of them. Needless to say he's ticked.
The second part of the story is: no sooner had my friend told me this story and we were talking about it, here comes two women in dresses walking down the sidewalk. But wait they weren't witnesses but Mormon missionaries. As to why they send missionaries to a town that is 95% Mormon escapes me.
My friend is very outgoing and so they stop to talk to us. After pleasentries were exchanged they asked what religions we were(The chance that they find the two students who happen to be non-Mormon). I told them that I wasn't any religion right now. My friend said pretty much the same. This of course peaked their interest.
My friend started talking about just being open and had recently gone to mass just to see what it was like, but that she is into science mostly. I stayed quiet for most of this time even though I could tell they were looking to "draw me out". My friend said that even though she is not Mormon she does respect what the missionaries were doing. At this moment they looked to me for my response, for some reason I was slightly irritated but holding it back.
I told them i understood what they were doing and that I had done something much like it before. At the moment it came out of my mouth I knew it was too late. But at this point I didn't care anymore and let the conversation continue as I knew it would. They both looked at me and said "really you have?" It was a matter of seconds before they put two and two together and asked if I had been a witness.
I said yes, that's when one of the missionaries looked at me and said that she had been raised as a witness but left five years ago. At this point I just laughed in shock. So I asked her why she left. This question threw her off at first and she asked if I wanted to really hear the answer right then. I told her that nothing she said would surprise me. Turns out she's Somoan and had nearly gotten baptized.
I was excited to hear what she had to say but it just turned into some garbled testimony of why she became Mormon and how it gave her the ability to talk to God in prayer. At this point I knew any rational answer was out of the question and I just smiled. After that they were asking for addresses so they could come see us and my friend told them she is never home but gave it anyway (even though I know she will never convert or is really interested in it at all). They wanted mine but I told them I had my fill of religion for the time and they left after that.
Anyways that is my long and crazy story of the day. the crazy thing is that when those missionaries were talking I knew exactly how they were trying to mold the conversation and saw myself when I was a dub, which was the irritating part. Even when your trying to put the whole witness thing in the past watch out because it will come slap you when your not expecting it.
So if you ever miss the witnesses or are looking for a substitute just go find your nearest Mormon stake house! :-)