I figured while I am required to write so many papers for my classes, I should share them with the world. I am taking a communication class right now and was asked to write a paper on a time where I was involved miscommunication. I shared the following experience.
I served my mission in Independence Missouri. I spent my last
seven and a half months serving in the Historic Liberty Jail. The missionaries
serving there were involved in many misunderstandings. One of the most common was
phone calls for the prison. Although Liberty Jail was in fact a jail in
liberty, it is not the “Clay County Detention Center.” We took these as little
opportunities to help others feel the Spirit for just a few moments before
correcting their jargon and giving them the detention center’s phone number
(which was kept right next to the phone).
One of the attractions of Liberty, Missouri is the Jesse James Bank Museum. As you might guess, this attraction brings quite a different crowd
from the Mormon historical site vacationers. The museum is famous for the “first
successful daylight peacetime bank robbery” which the gang leader, Jesse James,
lead in 1866. Some of the Museum visitors don’t pay very much attention to the
part of the story when “the gang was never caught” and head across the town
square to visit the Historic Liberty Jail. I was taking one such group through
one day.
The Liberty Jail tour begins in the “history room” where the
missionary gives a brief overview of events leading up to Joseph Smith’s imprisonment.
After the summary, questions are invited. I could tell this couple was a little
shy, as only the woman looked at me during my presentation; her husband was
looking at all the different diagrams in the room. After waiting for no
questions to be asked, I took the couple down the hall to show them the re-creation
of the jail.
The couple let me talk about the jail but wasn’t interested in
the story of Joseph Smith- they just wanted the history. After twenty minutes of
information, I invited questions again. Finally, the woman asked “So, Jesse
James had nothing to do with this jail?” Her husband looked at me- finally
interested in what I had to say, and when I answer ‘no’ their tour was over.
They politely got up and left the jail. The wife apologized for taking up our
time and kindly refused more information about the LDS church.
Despite the miscommunication, all of us serving at the jail had
a good laugh. We learned that we need to get to know our audience better before
jumping into church history.
