Knock, knock, knock.
“Hello. Do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ?”
“No, thank you.”
Slam!
That is the noise Dace Daniels and Keaton Hiatt hear on a regular basis as two Mormon missionaries here in Warrensburg, knocking on stranger’s doors.
Daniels, 20, and Hiatt, 19, are two Mormon elders on their mission trip for two years from Utah. They reside in Warrensburg but travel to surrounding cities to spread their beliefs and teach people who want to learn more about Mormonism and the church of Jesus Christ Latter Day-Saints.
But there’s more to their personality that people don’t find out about. People might think that Mormons are a whole different breed but they’re just like anyone else. They have all kinds of interests, hobbies and passions outside of their Mormon religion.
“I love music, almost any type of music,” Daniels said. “I played the piano, I love singing. I sing in choir, take voice lessons and things like that.”
Being a Mormon missionary, they can only listen to certain types of music, mainly gospel. Daniels said he sometimes misses listening to regular music while on his mission.
“Man, I haven’t listened to real music in 16 months,” he said. “Sometimes I’m like ‘Man, I kinda wanna just listen to one of those songs right now. Some really good music sounds really good right now,’” he said. “I do definitely miss music. Obviously I’ll listen to it when I’m back home.”
Daniels’ favorite styles are indie and classical music.
“In general, I’m a pretty peaceful person,” Daniels said.
Hiatt’s interests are more involved around sports. He said he enjoys basketball and played on the team in high school.
“Before my mission, I loved basketball. I could play a ton of basketball, all the time. It was so fun,” he said.
He also enjoys football, baseball, track and playing Fifa, a soccer video game.
“Growing up, I played football, basketball and baseball. After my freshman year, I did track. For a little bit, I played tennis. I play a lot of video games too.”
And of course, they have many favorite movies. Daniels said he enjoys “Lord of the Rings,” “The Hobbit” and “Harry Potter” series. Hiatt said his favorite movies are the Jason Bourne films.
In Daniel’s and Hiatt’s downtime during their mission, they do fun things with friends and other missionaries.
“Last week we went to an antique shop and got ice cream,” Daniels said.
He said one day during their mission, they even played with “human hamster balls” with a group of other missionaries.
“We all had one of those and we were rolling around playing soccer. It was really fun and people were flying everywhere. We do fun things like that,” Daniels said.
MacKenzie Halm from Utah and Heather Brinegar from Arizona are two 20-year-old sister Mormon missionaries who know Daniels and Hiatt from the church.
“I think they’re awesome. They take their calling seriously but they’re also kind of goofy while they’re at it,” Brinegar said. “I just think it’s cool that they can kind of still be themselves at the same time. I think that’s a strength for them.”
Halm said they both work with Daniels and Hiatt and learn how to better teach people about the Gospel themselves.
“We think they’re fantastic missionaries. They work really hard. They truly love other people. They wanna help serve the Lord,” Halm said.
Daniels and Hiatt are on this mission to help others, teach people about their faith and become better people, by giving up certain things in life for their religion.
During their two year mission, Mormons must give up many everyday things such as TV, movies, music, videogames, books, newspapers, social media and much more. They can’t drink, smoke, date people, or be out past 10 p.m.
Daniels said the biggest thing for him was giving up what he wanted to do in order to do what God wants.
“It’s still an ongoing struggle because I’m a person. I want what I want,” Daniels said. “I’m definitely not a perfect human being.”
Daniels and Hiatt both said they hope for a world where they can go knocking on a door and not get a slam in their face. They want to talk to people, get to know them and be kind to them.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Hello, do you have a moment to talk about Jesus Christ?”
“Sure, come on in.”