Civic Engagement Assignment

1. What event did you choose for this activity? (Include place, date, time, activity, etc.)

For this assignment I decided to go to my friend’s Mission Farewell. It was held last Sunday (Nov. 8) at 11 A.M. It was held at one of the many Mormon churches in this state (I don’t know the address, I just know it was in South Jordan). I chose this event because, well, first of all he’s my friend, second, because of this assignment, and third, because I’m not Mormon (for the most part, I’m an atheist) and most of my friends are Mormon. For this activity, I had to sit through two hours of speaking and God mentioned in every sentence, and then we all went to my friend’s house for food.

2. With whom did you speak and what did you learn from them?

Well, I spoke with my friend of course. And I learned how exactly one’s Mission is supposed to work. Once again, I’m not Mormon so I have no idea how most of their ideas are supposed to work, but now at least I have minor knowledge of what people do on a Mission. From what I know, when someone goes on a Mission, they go to some other place (could be in the country or outside of the country) and they preach the “word of God” and “the teachings of the Books of Mormon” to anyone who is willing to listen.

3. What does civic engagement mean to you?

My definition of civic engagement is getting involved in your society. Whether that be something large like volunteer work or simply talking to a stranger at the park.

4. How did this assignment help you to be civically engaged?

Well, I guess now I know how the Mormon church and Missions work. So, I guess, that’s a plus. I’m not quite as out of the loop as I was before in this state, which helps me understand what people are talking about.

5. Did you enjoy this experience? Would you do it again? Why or why not?

No, I did not enjoy this experience. Honestly, it was really boring. And I would prefer to not have to do this again, because of my boredom, plus as I mentioned earlier, I’m not religious in the slightest so a lot of the time I was trying to hold back laughter at the absurdness of me being inside a church building listening to people preach about “our Lord and savior.” But I will probably end up having to do this again, because most of my friends will be leaving for their Missions as well at some point in the future.

6. How did it relate specifically to the course?

This activity related strongly to the religious portion of the class that we learned about earlier in the semester. How people often look to religion to become happier than they are. I mean, my friend left for his Mission because he feels a “close bond with God” and he wants to preach to people that the words in the Book of Mormon are fact because that makes him happy. He likes what he’s doing, he’s happy. He’s living a life that he believes is worth living. And I respect his decision (even though I think it’s ridiculous to leave your home for two or more years for something like this) and everyone else respects his decisions. And this happiness reflects back to the Happiness and the Good Life section of this course. My friend is happy because of his religious beliefs, and therefore he’s going to feel like he’s living a good life. I feel like this can also be applied to the identity portion of the class as well, because a person’s Mission is probably a way of finding themselves. I mean, I’m sure there are Missionaries out there who don’t really want to be doing this, but have to because of this duty to their parents, so they decided to use this opportunity as a way of finding themselves. Figuring out what they really want to be doing, whether or not they actually enjoy their Mission, it’s all a matter of perspective for every single person. Missionaries can’t possibly be thinking the same things, it’s just not possible.

Reflection

The strategies I used for this assignment included my going with a few other friends to the activity and honestly, I doodled a bit during the service. I went with my friends, because I wouldn’t have known what to do otherwise. I would’ve gotten lost on my way to the service after the meet at my friend’s house, so the two friends I went with gave me a ride. And of course they teased me endlessly, because I’m their very non-Mormon friend at a very Mormon church so of course I looked and felt out of place. But being with my friends gave me confidence to actually be there. And I did doodle during the service because I was bored. I probably would have keeled over if I hadn’t started doodling, and of course I felt guilty that I wasn’t really paying attention, but I just couldn’t handle listening to some guys droning on about God. My thinking during the assignment kind of changed when I answered the fourth question, because I hadn’t really thought about how I was being engaged civilly until just now, but I guess it really did help me understand the Utah society a little bit better even though I’ve lived here for over ten years. After figuring out that I was being civilly engaged, I kind of realized some more words that I could write down. I feel that if I hadn’t wrote about my being civilly engaged, I would’ve struggled a bit with writing the rest of the essay. Basically everything went according to plan, except for the fact that that the dress I wore (which was knee length, perfectly acceptable in my book) was a lot shorter than everyone else’s dresses. And I’m pretty sure everyone could tell that I was the only non-Mormon in the entire building. That was a bit embarrassing, I will admit, and was definitely not according to any plan. I also didn’t realize I had to go to church. That was a big surprise. I mean, when I was younger I went to church (not a Mormon church) but I was like eleven the last time I went to church. So, it was definitely new for me to be in a Mormon church after eight years of never going to any church. And just because I thought this was incredibly funny, one of my friends who had driven me around during this whole fiasco made a comment while we were waiting for our other friend. She said she hadn’t wanted to say this in the vicinity of the church, and then murmured the words, “I’m just glad you didn’t burst into flames during the service.” Of course, I died laughing because, though this friend has a very dark sense of humor, she’s never said anything like that before. Yeah, that’s my experience at a Mormon church for a friend’s Farewell.

#humanities #Fall2015