During a wondeful trip to another city, I was speaking to a group about intellectual property strategy when a leader from another part of our large company showed up. He had met me when I was interviewing in China and had learned from an American friend about my Chinese-speaking son who served a mission in Taiwan. I think he is from Taiwan and is very familiar with LDS missionaries and has a lot of respect for them. He gave the group I was speaking to another introduction for me and said some very kind things, and then said, "And now Jeff, would you like to tell us about your religion?"

This was an important moment for me. All my life I've been happy when given opportunities to share a few thoughts about my religion for I think it's the greatest thing to bring peace, happiness and meaning to people's lives. It was the kind of open invitation that rarely comes and is a great opportunity when it does. My answer, of course, was to look down, shake my head, and say, "No, thanks."

That's right, I just said no. He was OK with that and went on to explain that he thought it was cool how my son had been a missionary in Taiwan. I then picked up the comfortable secular topic of IP strategy and moved on.

Talking about the Church in any degree was an opportunity I had to decline to be faithful to the very strong requirements of our Church leaders here in China, who plead with us to carefully repect the rules that we are under. It's good to know and follow these rules, even if (or especially if) you're just a tourist passing through. Some leaders in the Chinese government have actually been very kind to us and may have put their own necks on the line, I suspect, to grant us foreign members the privilege of meeting freely provided we don't proselyte among native Chinese people (whether they are members of the Church or not). With the long-term benefit to the Church and to the people of China in mind, we respect those rules carefully. But it was painful to say no to such a kind invitation.

I later told my friend that I was sorry for declining his invitation, but explained to him the rules we have. He was very understanding.

Someday this will change and more doors will open. Someday missionaries, even if only service missionaries, will be visible in China. Someday Blogger will be available in China (it's blocked now, so I'm not too worried about what I write here influencing the Chinese--actually a bit convenient at the moment, I guess). Some native Chinese branches will be able to combine with foreign branches and worship together in some form. Someday thousands more Chinese will have Family Home Evening, will store food to be even better neighbors when disasters strike, and will join in home teaching service, temple service, and LDS-organized humanitarian service. This nation will be stronger for it, but first we must pass the present test and show through our actions that we can keep our word (and that this strange religion of ours really does bring out the good in people).
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