Kindness and a Pleasant Demeanor: Powerful Tools of Evangelism

I recently had cataract surgery on both of my eyes, about three weeks ago on the left and just over a week ago on the right. One of the problems with cataract surgery is that the doctors don't want you to mess up their handiwork by bending at the waist, lifting over twenty pounds, or any other physical exertion until you heal sufficiently. The day I had my second surgery, it snowed a few inches, and because of restrictions, I have been unable to shovel it. There have been some partial thaw and freeze cycles since then, making the snow crusty and icy.

Today I had my follow-up appointment for the right eye -- everything looked great. I was cleared to work out, lift things, and do physical work generally. I decided to start on the sidewalks and driveway when I got home from the appointment. As I was dealing with the crusty, uncooperative snow, I heard two female voices saying, "Sir, Sir, can we help you shovel? We have snow shovels."

Normally accepting help from 20-something women would be appalling to me, but they made it sound like I would be doing them a favor by letting them shovel. Two sparkly-clean, well-groomed, pleasant young women. They introduced themselves as "Sister #" and "Sister &." (Sorry, I forgot their actual names.) They had little badges on their jackets with "Sister ...." Church of Latter-day Saints. So I explained that all I really wanted was a path up the driveway to the sidewalk to my front door that was safe and not slippery. Didn't need the whole driveway, just a safe path to walk. They were thrilled to help someone and to shovel snow for the first time. They worked at it and did a nice job. It really was a help to me.

I am not a Mormon. I am a fairly conventional Christian, and I attend a very friendly Anglican Church of North America congregation. However, if I weren't a Christian attached to my faith and my congregation, I would have found the genuine kindness, desire to serve, and pleasant, friendly demeanor of these young Mormon missionaries really, really convincing. Christian churches need to emulate the kindness, cleanliness, and cheerful public service of these two young Mormon missionaries to better spread the Gospel and better evangelize.