03/05/2007
Photo Story
Record-Eagle/Tyler Sipe
Garfield Township resident Amy Looyenga restrains her dog, Luke, while speaking with Elder Hobson and Elder Lopez about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Mission Possible
By
Record-Eagle photographer
Record-Eagle/Tyler Sipe
Elder Lopez, right, and Elder Hobson pray before meeting with a family for dinner. The two do nearly everything together and work almost daily from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Two young men, freshly shaven and in business suits, trudged the slushy sidewalks of Traverse City's Spruce Street on a recent winter day — their mission undeterred by their cold, wet feet.
Mormon missionaries Elder Lopez of Orem, Utah, and Elder Hobson of St. George, Utah, were "door-knocking,” something they do two to four times a week in the hope of engaging local residents in the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"We're all set,” was the response at one door.
"I'm not interested,” a woman at another house replied. "We're Catholic.”
Lopez and Hobson, two of about 50,000 LDS missionaries in 162 countries, said such responses do not discourage them.
"I think there are some people who have heard weird things about Mormons,” said Lopez, who has been a missionary for five months. "They don't understand what the Book of Mormon is or who the Prophet Joseph Smith was.”
Smith was a Mormon prophet and founder of LDS. The Book of Mormon is one of the movement's sacred texts and is referred to by Mormons as "another testament of Jesus Christ,” which critics dispute. The religion has been in the limelight recently because of Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney's political campaign. Romney is a Mormon.
The two elders can sympathize with former Massachusetts governor who was recently heckled during a campaign stop in a retirement community in Florida.
"And you sir … you're a pretender … you do not know the Lord … you're a Mormon,” a man shouted out during Romney's appearance two weeks ago at a Florida retirement center.
Hobson, who has been on a mission for nearly two years, said he thinks Romney's candidacy will open dialogue and an examination of all faiths — Mormon and others.
"Knowledge will never hurt you,” Hobson said. "I would encourage people try and understand a little more instead of having a point of view from someone else that doesn't know much about the church.”
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