Are Missionaries Weird?

   Do you think missionaries are weird? Maybe intimidating? As a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints I get a lot of funny looks. They range from curiosity and confusion, to hoping not to be seen, and even anger. Some people are happy to see us, others yell out their car door.

   I think people see the Book of Mormon in our hands and the name tag and somehow get the impression we aren't normal. I'd like to debunk that theory. I think you'll find missionaries aren't so weird.

      I graduated High School, and during that period of my life most of my friends were NOT members of the LDS church. I played football. I wasn't good at it. I also tried wrestling, and track and field- same story: not good at them. You can probably tell I'm not much of an athlete! I also did ballroom dance. It was a lot of fun! We hung out at the park, mostly- if I did hang out with anyone outside of school. A lot of my high school friends still call me Ron to this day because they nick-named me after Ronald Weasly from the Harry Potter series (one of my friends was a HUGE fan!).

   Everyone's family situations are different. Some of my closest friends came from very different family situations. You and I may come from different types of homes. I had a close family. Some of my fondest memories are spending time with my mom or dad just talking or spending time together watching TV. Before my mission I spent a lot of time babysitting for my nieces and nephews.
   My closest friends and I were piano bums. We would mess around on the piano at each other's houses and play songs off the radio from artists like Taylor Swift, Relient K, The Fray, Axis of Awesome, and a lot of music from movies- especially Disney classics like Mulan. We wrote our own music. It was nowhere near professional, but it was fun.

   My family went on vacations growing up to places like the Grand Canyon, Four corners, and Disney Land.
   I had a crush on the girl down the street. Twice. I was horrible at trying to talk to them. I got WAY too nervous and generally the first thing that came out of my mouth was the dumbest thing I could think of. (can you relate?)
   I have a FaceBook. I had a myspace. I got on them way too much.

   I like to break into song randomly. So do my parents. I don't like to read all that much- but I'm beginning to like it more and more.

   I have broken my left collar bone, my left elbow, and snapped my left Achilles Tendon. It hurt. I was in Seventh Grade and I'm not afraid to say I cried!

   Do I need to continue???

   So do you still think missionaries are weird? Well, maybe I am, but you see, we're regular joes who have had regular childhoods and grew up in loving homes and we're really normal people. Each one of us has a different story, but we each have had our ups and downs, our adventures and embarrassments. We had to learn our ABC's and 1,2,3's just like anyone. We didn't just pop out of nowhere! We have lives. We have feelings. We have cares, concerns, questions, preferences- just like anyone.

   In the end, we're all children of God, and we're all a whole lot more alike than we think. I was just talking to a man from Ghana, who made similar comments about his race. He said he thinks it is okay to have a sense of pride in one's own herritage, but it is not okay to put others down for it. I think that applies to religion as well. I definitely am thankful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but I don't think lowly of others who are not of the same religion. I would hope people of other faiths would feel the same way toward missionaries like me. We have different beliefs, but we are all children of God and He loves us all equally.
   In the words of a well-known song: "why can't we be friends?"