I was reading a plaque and she asked if I found it interesting. I did. She asked what I knew about their religion.

I said, truthfully, that I had read the Book of Mormon. "What did you think?"

Long, embarrassing pause. "It was a stretch." True, and as kind as I could be.

She volunteered to take my companion and me on a tour. Even with her high-tech hearing aids the noise of the temple area was a bit much for my friend, but the missionary and I chatted. I was a bit afraid that if I said the wrong thing too strongly a horde of grasshoppers would climb up my shorts followed by a flock of starving seagulls.

She finally trumped me, in her mind, by saying that Joseph Smith was a prophet exactly like all the other authors of the Bible and that his writings were no more or less fantastic than any others of the Bible and they carried the same credibility.

Thankfully, I could honestly agree with her and our tour came to a merciful end.