Comments on: Sister Missionary, 1946-48 (Part Three)

By: Maurine Ward

Maurine Ward — Thu, 12 May 2011 05:43:45 +0000

I really enjoyed these glimpses into your aunt’s mission and her feelings.

By: David Y.

David Y. — Wed, 11 May 2011 23:06:46 +0000

“The reason I’ve liked tracting so much this week is because we’ve talked so much.”

I’m glad your aunt took the time to record some really great details: Bro. Spencer inviting them in for a strawberry soda, the elders getting a root beer at the service station, and her reaction to her unexpected release. And especially all the various reactions to the missionaries’ message: “One man told us he believed in religion, but not our line”; the Christian Scientist who said that if it made one happy to believe a certain way, “it was all right to believe it”; and the lady who was surprised by your aunt saying she didn’t actually believe that you could prove anything you want to from the Bible. Great stuff. Thanks.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Wed, 11 May 2011 21:11:26 +0000

The Japanese were famous for polite if disingenuous responses to tracting missionaries. “Rusu desu” was a common response–essentially, “Nobody’s home.”

It was especially fun to get a string of contradictory excuses at adjacent doors:

“The children are in bed.”

“The children are still up.”

“We’re putting the children to bed.”

“We have children.”

“We don’t have any children.”

By the end of a run like that, it’d be hard to keep a straight face.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 11 May 2011 19:32:31 +0000

This is great, Ardis. My great-grandmother served a mission in Chicago (Central States Mission, I believe) in the 1920s. I wish I had access to a journal of her experiences. Thank you for sharing!

By: HokieKate

HokieKate — Wed, 11 May 2011 16:34:48 +0000

Your aunt is so positive, and her writings seem to have so much joy and love.

By: Researcher

Researcher — Wed, 11 May 2011 14:09:34 +0000

Wow, Ardis. Except for the Primary Tracting and the decade, location, and language, this could be straight out of my mission journal for my third area in western Germany.

At one door where we knocked a man opened it and said there was no one home.

I remember that happening from time to time, and it was always the source of much wonderment and amusement.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses. People told us that from time to time about the Second Coming. I imagine the missionaries now are probably hearing a lot about the Second Coming which Harold Camping has scheduled for May 21 (ten days from now!). (That’s a tangent since Camping is not affiliated with the JW.)

I’ve always felt a little sheepish because right before I left my third area, I street contacted one of the head honchos from the local Jehovah’s Witness congregation. He hadn’t realized there were sister missionaries in Unna, and the JWs started a major campaign to tract and retract the entire area, so the next set of sisters had to deal with a population tired of answering the door to religious people.

She’s such a good contact. I really like her.

How lovely. I corresponded with an investigator from my third area for at least a decade after my mission. We finally lost contact a few years ago when she remarried and moved and I moved. Besides all the duties and responsibilities and hard work of missionary work, getting to know people and make some good friends was a real high point of the experience.

Thanks for this post, Ardis. What a lovely post, what a nice aunt, and what wonderful memories her journal entries bring back.