I think most missionaries* would agree that the tracking of weekly numbers is a necessary evil of missionary work. While missionaries hate to assign cold, hard numbers to the work they do with the individuals they come in contact with, without the accountability that weekly numbers provide, it would be very easy for discourage missionaries to slack off on their ministry.Yeah, weekly numbers aren't fun, and they're especially not fun when you're dealing with a wise guy.
*Of course, the only type of missionary that likes weekly numbers are those who are aspiring to a bigger calling (like Elder Blank, for example).
When it comes to door-to-door tracting, I think there's some kind of space-time continuum issue at play. It was always discouraging to spend what felt like an eternity knocking on doors and then realize that I had been doing it for only an hour or two. For a while my mission recommended 15 hours weekly and you'd think that hitting a meager mark like that would be no problem. But, in the "twilight zone" of door-to-door, going only a couple hours a day felt like reliving Groundhog Day over and over again.
ReplyDeleteI really can't blame the missionary who resorts to droll humor when asked about his numbers.