Mormons are Christian?
We had to be at the hospital at 6am thur for Doug's surgery. They took him back at 8am and then all I had to do was wait..... and wait..... and wait (the surgery wasn't done til after 6pm). I knew this beforehand so I came prepared. I brought books, a painting, etc.
I set up in the cafeteria and started painting - for 4 hours. That is not a normal activity for a hospital cafeteria. I chose this because I was under a lot of stress and painting helps calm me down and is a gentle distraction. It turns out to be a great conversation starter also. A lot of people here are Catholic and the painting really touched them. Conversation goes like this:
"Where are you from?"
"Utah"
"Oh really? Are you Mormon?" (everyone from Utah is Mormon?!?!?)
"Yes I am."
Pause. They look at the painting. They look at me. The painting is Annie being held in Jesus' arms.
"Mormons are Christian?"
The first 2 times this happened it was kind of fun. I explained what our real name is, etc. By the time I was on the 4th person I was ready to beat my head against a wall. Either we are doing a poor job of opening our mouths and letting people know what we really believe and what we are really like, or someone is working overtime to spread the wrong impressions.
Or both.
So lets OPEN UP FOLKS! I haven't ever gone off on missionary work before but this experience really made an impression on me. We need to talk to everyone around us, about everything. We don't have to plan a religious conversation - just be open and friendly and God will direct the conversation. I've heard this misunderstanding about us and Christianity is common but until I ran into it 4 times in one day I didn't really believe it or see how prevalent it is. My goodness! Sigh
Anyway I paint in Doug's hospital room when he takes a nap. If I feel like more missionary work I'll set up in the cafeteria again :)
Angela I love your strategy and your inventiveness of your method of distraction. I have my daughter in Girl Scouts and have that as my mixing with nonmembers frequently. We have a Mormon (me), the main leader (Prysbetarian), a Catholic mom, and 6 others I don't know what they think...after placing flags at the cemetary for Memorial Day the little Prysbetarian girl asked her mom what was going to happen to all the babies that died? I told her that Sarah knew so she asked her. It was lovely :). They had to real answer and were cool with ours! Later at brunch they had coffee and asked me if that was okay or was it offensive? Like you, I like the questions but get tired of some.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could sit with a box of pastels and create next to you as we chatted the hours in the waiting room away. Please accept my far away hug and love for you during this very tough time!!
ReplyDeleteYou are so sweet! I wish you could be here to. Thank you for your constant friendship and love for our family.
ReplyDeleteThanks for painting in the cafeteria and being a light to the world. Your experience is a powerful reminder to me. I'm sure you and your family have influenced more people than you will ever know.
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