I can totally relate. They somehow find me too, and usually just because I'm pretty nice and polite to strangers. Makes you rethink that whole strategy. :S

And you know, I think the thing that irritates me most is the way they start with an innocent conversation and you're just trying to be polite, and then out of nowhere spring the whole "Jesus is our savior" bollocks on you. What flabbergasts me is how anyone can think it acceptable or in good etiquette to start springing something like this on a stranger in a public place in a diverse country.

I've given up on trying to avoid them - I just have fun with them now. Telling them straight-face I worship the Devil really gets them running fast. (I don't, for the record, and I know it's kind of tasteless, but it gets them off my back.)