Bad turned into good

Our friends Dave and Tiffani Judd own a timeshare at the Mystic Dunes Resort and Golf Club. When we started planning our vacation together, we decided to stay at the same resort, so it would be easier to get together for things like swimming, and just getting together.

As part of our resort package, we had to take a "tour" of the property. I think everyone has been to one of these timeshare sales tours at one point of their lives. The last time we had been to one, was 8 years ago, when we were still in college. We went to get free dinner gift cards. This time we had to go to get a "special" rate for the hotel.

As we were waiting for the tour to start, we were fed lunch. I'm sure this was to put us at ease or something. As we were waiting we were thinking of all sorts of fun ways to go through the presentation. One was for me to play the dumb blonde. Turns out, I just don't know how to act stupid (not that I'm brilliant or anything). So we decided to just be nice instead.

I was very apperhensive about the sales person we would get, because honestly I can't stand abbrasive sales men that are rude or like to try and guilt-trip me into anything. We were lucky, and ended up with a nice female sales representative name Sophia. Sophia is from Venezuela. She was telling us all about her trip to Boise Idaho, and how she loved it there.

When it came time to tell her we wouldn't be buying a timeshare that would have cost us "only" $12,000 + $800 per year, we explained to her that we are just not like most people. We don't have cable, rarely go out to eat, have 1 low car payment, don't go on dates to avoid babysitting fees, etc, etc.

So we told her we are kind of weird, and had also mentioned earlier that we loved Utah for its mountains. So she asked if we are mormon. When we told her that we are, it was funny to see her reaction. She said: "but Mormons are weird, you are not!", and "but they wear long-sleeved white shirts with white tennis shoes". I'm not sure where the white shirts with tennis shoes came from, but it was so funny.

This all happened towards the end of the sales presentation, and she set all the timeshare paperwork and said "forget about this, let's talk about you!". So we talked about the bible, and she told us she grew up as a Catholic, but now is just reading the bible on her own, so she can figure out for herself what is true. We told her we also believe in the bible, and told her a few things that are different in our church.

Looking back, we should have been better missionaries, because she was genuinely interested in the "mormon faith". The time wasn't right though, and I hope we left her with a positive feeling about the church. These are times I wish I knew better what to say, and not be afraid to share the beliefs I have.