This hilarious thing happened while I was in Atlanta. My colleagues and I took an Uber to the Ebenezer church and fell into conversation with the driver. Rather, my good friend Jim fell into conversation while I sat in the back, looking at the city.
I forget now how it happened, but they started talking about the local hookah scene, and how there was a shop that had let you smoke fruit. Jim - ever eager to toy with any idea, serious or fanciful - expressed enthusiasm to go there. It would be a cultural exchange for the faculty! Now, at our weekly meetings, I am generally his devoted sidekick, playing along with any scheme, but this one was not for me. I teased, "Jim, what are you getting me into now?"
After we arrived and I got out of the car, the driver said to Jim, "Your friend really has something against fruit!"
Jim and I doubled over laughing later as he told me. The thought that someone assumed it was the fruit and not the hookah smoking was so bizarre!
Jim explained to him that, no, his friend was a Mormon and they don't smoke or drink alcohol. The driver asked him what a Mormon is. Jim told him the proper name of the church, and it didn't ring any bells. Here was a fellow who had never even heard of us! Boy, I wish Jim had called me over then so I could chat with him! Jim laughed at my enthusiasm, suggesting I could have told him to keep the meter running while we drove around the town and teach him a discussion or two. That ... wasn't a bad idea!
Instead, Jim had given him a very brief introduction - having spent a fair amount of time with missionaries, other latter-day saints, and me, he has a decent knowledge base - and invited him to find out more at mormon.org. Not bad.
(Jim and I were playing prior to a forum/debate one day. Here's a video of how we thought about greeting our class on the first day in this one lecture hall.)
I forget now how it happened, but they started talking about the local hookah scene, and how there was a shop that had let you smoke fruit. Jim - ever eager to toy with any idea, serious or fanciful - expressed enthusiasm to go there. It would be a cultural exchange for the faculty! Now, at our weekly meetings, I am generally his devoted sidekick, playing along with any scheme, but this one was not for me. I teased, "Jim, what are you getting me into now?"
After we arrived and I got out of the car, the driver said to Jim, "Your friend really has something against fruit!"
Jim and I doubled over laughing later as he told me. The thought that someone assumed it was the fruit and not the hookah smoking was so bizarre!
Jim explained to him that, no, his friend was a Mormon and they don't smoke or drink alcohol. The driver asked him what a Mormon is. Jim told him the proper name of the church, and it didn't ring any bells. Here was a fellow who had never even heard of us! Boy, I wish Jim had called me over then so I could chat with him! Jim laughed at my enthusiasm, suggesting I could have told him to keep the meter running while we drove around the town and teach him a discussion or two. That ... wasn't a bad idea!
Instead, Jim had given him a very brief introduction - having spent a fair amount of time with missionaries, other latter-day saints, and me, he has a decent knowledge base - and invited him to find out more at mormon.org. Not bad.
(Jim and I were playing prior to a forum/debate one day. Here's a video of how we thought about greeting our class on the first day in this one lecture hall.)
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