I thought you might be interested to hear some of the more common responses that I hear when we are knocking doors or contacting:-I'm Buddhist/Daoist. (Indicating that we should therefore automatically realize that they are not interested or have no use for our message. Often this is accompanied by an indication of what neighbors are Christian, so we can go talk to them.)
-I'm already Christian. (Indicating that we pretty much believe the same thing already, so we should go find some Buddhist or Daoist person to teach.)
-All religions are the same, because they all teach everyone to be good. (A variation on this is all Christian churches are the same, except for Catholics. The Catholic church is some separate category, apparently.)
-I'm too busy.
-Oh, you're so hard-working, and you've come all the way to Taiwan. Xing ku nimen. (Still not interested, usually).
-Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou. (As far as I can tell, this is a way of politely telling us to go away. It's definitely not a way of saying, "Thank you, this is exactly what I want to hear right now.")
I'm not sure what missionaries in other parts of the world hear; I would expect some common ground, but probably some large differences as well. I don't think I've ever felt my religion lumped in with all Christian religions so freely. If anything, I think I got used to the complete opposite, so this has been educational.
Also, Dad, you asked me something about why I don't complain more about the weather in some letter a long time ago. The weather is gradually getting less hot now that we're in the fall months. Most days I do get drenched in sweat at some point, but it's not so bad, really. It's like camping: I feel like I'm supposed to be gross, or I wouldn't be doing it right, so it's almost satisfying. I still haven't decided if I prefer to be wet from sweat or nasty polluted rain...
This week I found a quote about discernment that I particularly liked:
"I believe [the gift of discernment] arises largely out of an acute sensitivity to impressions--spiritual impressions, if you will--to read under the surface, as it were, to detect hidden evil, and more importantly to find the good that may be concealed. The highest type of discernment is that which perceives in others and uncovers for them their better natures, the good inherent within them." (Elder Stephen L Richards quoted by Elder Bednar in the Dec. 2006 Ensign)
I really liked the concept of seeing the good in things as being the highest form of discernment. I believe that is much more difficult than finding the bad, at least in my own personal experience. He went on to state that we can all acquire this gift, I suppose through the usual combination of prayer and our own efforts. I think this is something that I would like to focus on during my mission, because isn't it wonderful to meet those people who help you see the good in yourself that even you didn't see before? I would like to be one of those people.
