Member Exchanges

I have lived in a few wards where priesthood leaders have arranged exchanges on several days of the week. I have gone on exchanges where we were asked to bear our testimony when the Elder taught a lesson. Most of time we weren't fortunate in completing appointments. Often when we went to an investigator's home they weren't home or made some excuse why they couldn't meet with the us. Many times the Elder would resort to tracting around the missed appointment. There is nothing so boring as to knock doors with a missionary that you know were knocked within the last few months. It brought back the feeling of rejection I felt on my mission when we would spend ten hours a day tracting with little results. A few times I quickly suggested that we go visit a less active person I was assigned to home teach. On several occasions the person wanted to get the missionary out of their house fast and would suggest we talk with their nonmember friends. My favorite thing was to get them to sign a short note to the friend saying they asked us to come by. We actually got a lot of referrals for missionaries by going to less active members homes and home teaching them. A few times over the years it resulted in a baptism or two. I wonder what your experience have been on member exchanges.