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Monday, June 8, 2015

Persecution :P

So, last night, my companion and I parked our bikes in the parking lot
of an apartment complex and walked down towards the end of the parking
lot, getting ready to knock on some doors, even though we suspected
that most of the complex was uninhabited.  Then we got an email to our
phone, so we stopped to check it.  There was a big guy in a red
tank-top behind us walking in the same direction, and I was getting
the feeling that he might be some trouble (not particularly dangerous,
but troublesome.)  While we were looking at the phone, this guy came
up to us and asked us what we were doing, and then he yelled at us to
GET OUT.  And my companion asked him "why?" and the guy just started
yelling and ranting.  So I'm like, yeah OK I get it, and I just turned
and started walking out.  (The guy, in his rant, did mention that
nobody lived there, which more or less confirmed our suspicions.)  My
companion said afterwards that he was really tempted to just start
yelling back in English, but he turned and followed me.  I started
pulling out my keys to unlock my bike, but the guy started following
us and yelling louder, so I just picked up my bike and walked out.  I
didn't pay much attention to what the guy was saying; it was mostly
along the lines of "hurry up" but he did rant something about
religion.  After we were out of the parking lot and on our bikes again
we just picked a different block to work on.

Interestingly enough, that's the only time on my mission (19 months so
far!) that I've been yelled at like that.  I hear missionaries in
other places have to put up with that kind of thing a lot more often.
Japanese people are really nice.

  "And blessed are all they who are persecuted for my name's sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
  And blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute, and
shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake;
  For ye shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad, for great shall
be your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets who were
before you." 3 Nephi 12:10-12

Just before that we had visited a really cheerful elderly fellow who
was very happy that we stopped by, and on the way back into our
apartment we passed another guy who greeted us with a smile and a
"good night!"  It's interesting to see the variety of attitudes in the
world (all in the same city, too).

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