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Ministry beings weekly services at
middle school
Taking
the good
word on the road |
Mormon missionaries spend up to two years going
door to door to preach the gospel |
By Schellene Clendenin, Newberg
Graphic reporter
E-mail Schellene at sclendenin@eaglenewspapers.com
|
They can often be seen around town in pairs wearing
suits and riding bicycles.
Sometimes the weather is hot, and the suit jackets become uncomfortable. In
the winter the rain beats down on them as they go from home to home. Sometimes people will
talk to them; sometimes doors are slammed in their faces.
“All four of us are riding bikes,” said Elder Patrick Staker, a
missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Staker said being out in
the weather doesn’t bother him; in fact he seems to enjoy it.
“I’m a cold-weather creature,” he said. “I love the
rain.”
Staker and Elder Daniel James are both natives of Utah and travel in pairs,
as do all LDS missionaries, Staker said.
Elder Daramsuren Javkhlantugs came to the United States from Mongolia.
Javkhlantugs’ family were once Buddhists, he said. However, a few years ago a
missionary from the U.S. came to Mongolia and his family converted to Christianity. When
Javkhlantugs came home from school, he, like his family, became a member of the LDS and he
was sent to Newberg on mission. Ironically, the missionary that first converted
Javkhlantugs’ family was from Newberg.
Elder Daniel Barnett, a native of Arizona and Javkhlantugs’
co-missionary, said becoming a bike missionary was a way for him to share the same joy
that he has felt with his church.
The bikes are an odd cultural phenomena, Larkin said. They are a function of
ease and economics.
“There are missionaries with cars,” Staker said, “but
it’s easier to meet people on the bikes.”
“In a car we can see people, but (don’t) talk to them,”
Javkhlantugs agreed. It’s good exercise, as well.
Cold weather doesn’t bother any of the missionaries. “We’re
all from colder climates,” Staker said.
“Oregon is summer to me,” Javkhlantugs laughed.
Some of the benefits of the missionary work, they said, occur when people see
them out in the community working hard.
“It’s easier for them to listen,” James said.
But being a missionary does have its challenges, the group said.
Sometimes people think we are trying to sell them something, Staker said.
“We are ordained to this calling at the church,” Staker said. He
said prospective missionaries, all at least 19 years old for men and 21 for women, work
for a time before becoming ordained to defray the costs and allow them to proselytize to a
community.
Elders preach year-round, he said, thus are not able to work.
The money raised by missionaries and their families is given to the church,
which divides it out throughout the mission to pay for food and lodging. If the elder runs
out of money before the end of the mission, Larkin said, family members can be called upon
to help carry the costs.
“We have long felt it was mandatory to share the message,” Larkin
said. He is ward mission leader for the Newberg LDS church.
New elders are sent to a training center for a short time if they do not need
to learn a new language, and for a far longer period if they do. Missionaries are rotated
and new elders are put under the care of the ones who have been in a community the
longest.
“They get to know the community,” Larkin said. The ultimate goal of
a missionary, which are considered ordained ministers for LDS, is to bring people into the
church.
Although he has had doors slammed in his face and had objects thrown at him,
Staker said when he is able to help someone or someone waves and says hello back to him
while he is riding his bike, it’s all worth it.
“I look at it a lot of times, it’s kind of sad. We’re all
children of the heavenly Father,” he said. “I can understand if they aren’t
interested, but it’s part of life. You can’t let it get you down.” |
|
From Oct. 18,
2003, Newberg Graphic
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