Hasty dunkings

My younger brother is a missionary in the Philippines. I was reading his email today and I had a thought occur to me that I had never really previously considered. He mentioned something about a baptism having to be delayed for a week. Reading that sort of caused me to reminisce about baptizing people. Which then lead to the thought, "I can't believe how quickly missionaries baptize people." I mean when one is a missionary, meeting someone, blazing through 6 lessons, inviting them to read, pray, and then checking up on it, and then baptizing them as quickly as possible (ideally 2 weeks) seemed like the most normal and logical thing in the world. It now sort of seems like the craziest thing in the world. I mean, we would literally invite people at the end of the second lesson to get baptized. A rather life altering thing. At least it should be. But how could it be? I mean, I just have to wonder if the missionaries prepared people a little better before giving them a hasty baptism, how many more people would stay active, rather than dwindle away in inactivity?

While flying home, I remember wondering how many of the people I dunked had actually remained active. I visited several areas, and it seemed like roughly 50%. I would bet the farm that it is now somewhere less than 25%. Becoming a member of the church is such a big change for most people, and the requirements can be seemingly astronomical. I suppose however, when people truly believe they have found the truth they would be anxious to "start the path." However, I do recall when interviewing people for baptism, on about half the occasions having to remind people that they had a testimony of the truth. Some missionaries seriously didn't prepare people at all. They would get to the interview having scarcely prayed, at which point I would have to help them realize that they had received an answer that the Book of Mormon was true, and of the veracity of the gospel.

I guess when one is no longer a missionary, one realizes how crazy missionaries actually are. Missionaries don't have a normal perspective. They cannot fathom why every single member of the church isn't working their hardest and devoting their every spare moment to building the kingdom. Then one comes home and realizes that one's expectations of people over the past 2 years were often a bit over the top. That maybe they were a little crazy when they told people they were going to be condemned. One also comes to realize that, just because one is not a Mormon, doesn't automatically mean that they are wallowing around in a mire of unhappiness. So to all you Mormons who think otherwise--non Mormons can be happy too. In fact, just as happy as you (we) are. I remember looking people in the eye and telling them that it was impossible for them to be completely happy if they rejected the truth we were sharing. I believe that there is a uniqueness to the happiness that a strong member of the LDS faith may have, a specific certainty and comfort in the belief that one is following absolutely correct doctrines. However, Mormons do not have a monopoly on happiness. I believe that a if a person is living a good life, and is doing what they feel is good, righteous, and correct that such a person will be happy, regardless as to what faith they pertain.

Perhaps my heart has simply grown a bit hard. I freaking love smart water.