rachel’s blog

Last evening when I got home from work, I changed clothes, put a load of laundry in the washing machine, and sat down at my desk. I opened the bottom drawer of my file cabinet and pulled out a manila folder labeled “2007 Taxes.” Finally! As I began to spread out the documents on my desk, the doorbell rang. Should I answer it? People rarely drop by unannounced; maybe this was something important. Or maybe a friend wanted to do something spontaneous and fun! I would find out soon enough.

On my way to the door I glanced out the window, but didn’t see any of my friends’ cars parked along the curb. I opened the front door and stepped outside, pulling the door behind me. Two young women stood on my porch. They looked like college students. One wore an orange shirt and carried an umbrella, while the other wore a long coat and had a scarf tied in her hair.

I introduced myself and shook their hands while they told me their names. I like college students, and these two seemed especially fun and friendly, so I struck up a conversation with them. After the “where are you from” smalltalk, we moved quickly into conversation (and laughter!) about things ranging from the 75 MPH speed limit in Idaho to the horse-and-buggy transportation still used by some Mennonite groups in this area. We did spend a few minutes chatting about the reason they had stopped by, and they gave me some promotional literature, but soon we were back to discussing random things like illegal immigrants and the fuzzy socks I was wearing.

I considered inviting the girls to join me for dinner, but since the only thing on the menu was leftovers, I decided against it. We probably chatted for half an hour before they finally said they needed to move on.

Oh, and did I mention that these young women were Mormon missionaries? I knew this from the moment I opened the door, of course, but instead of turning them away abruptly, I chose to see who Christ might see — two fun-loving college students who were definitely worth getting to know.