Although I think Groundhog Day is the most pointless day printed on the calendar, I'm still going to try to remember what I can about it.
2013. In the day, my wardie Morgan Crockett and I had to go out knocking on people's doors to get them to sign up on our ward website. I didn't have a tablet or a smart phone, so I was less efficient, and several people lied to me about whether they'd sign up. (Remember that question, "Are you honest in your dealings?") While Morgan was talking to people at the Elite complex, I was standing out on the sidewalk, kicking ice around to try to get it to melt. I looked up at the mountains in the east, and I watched a van drive down the road, and I began to think that it was too incredible that our world happened by chance.
2011. That evening, I went to a test review session for my astronomy class in the BNSN. There was a girl there with some vending machine pretzels, and we were talking about the winter solstice. The TA said, "The sun is highest in the sky at the winter solstice." The pretzel girl said, completely serious, "Is that in August?" The TA politely responded to her question, but I couldn't believe a university student was asking such a question! Then I went to the humanities computer lab in the JFSB and posted the story on the Overheard at BYU Facebook page. I think I had to work on a project for my Web publishing class, and then I probably went to institute.
2010. My family came down to Provo because they needed to get our Subaru, since it wasn't working. When I got in the Suburban, Allie looked greedily at my planner, because for some reason she loved to look at my planner. Part of the object in her coming was for me to observe her speech for my introductory ELang class, and I got to observe those things. She said something to me, and said, "Do you renember [sic] that?" They took me to dinner at Brick Oven. I got a meal that came with a cookie, and when I got it, Allie began looking greedily (again) at it, sticking her tongue out. Susanne saw what she was doing, and said, "No!" But I gave her a piece of the cookie anyway, and she said the chocolate chip tasted like Nutella. (I was less strict about eating seasonal desserts then.) They asked Allie what her favorite February holiday was, and she said, "Valentime's [sic] Day and Groundog [sic] Day." Then we got back to my apartment, and they called a tow truck to take the car. I had to take Allie up to my apartment to use the bathroom. Then Allie was sitting on her mom's lap in the car, and Susanne pulled the door shut, and it closed on Allie's fingers. She began crying, so Susanne asked me if I could get some ice for her fingers. My mom also needed to use the bathroom, so she was following me up the stairs. I went really fast to get Allie's ice, and my mom got mad. My going faster than my mom didn't do much good, though, because my mom ended up taking the ice back down anyway. I asked my roommate James if she could use our bathroom, so he left the bedroom. As my mom was leaving, she asked him if he was keeping me in line (or something like that), and I thought it was awkward, because James hated all people. Later James asked me about my dinner and what I got. He didn't know Brick Oven served anything besides pizza.
2009. I remember our dinner at the Johnsons', a recently converted family whose daughter was getting baptized that week. They served us a meal that was tater tots on sour cream. I had tater tot casseroles multiple times in that area (but never before and never after), but I didn't like this one. Neither I nor Elder Wilson liked sour cream, but we pretended to like it. They offered us soda, and I didn't want one, but Elder Wilson wanted a Mountain Dew, and the nine-year-old daughter Danielle had a meltdown because she didn't get a Mountain Dew. Elder Wilson felt bad, but Jason (the dad) told him not to worry. Then we went over to the church to have them try on baptismal suits. This is my journal entry for the day:
"Today was a rather boring P-day. Elder Colton took almost two hours to email, and then we went to Spokane so they could play basketball. I was not pleased with the topics of conversation today. I think Elder Colton and Elder Wilson bring out the worst in each other. Elder Colton was shocked when I tried to bite him last night, but I warned him to be quiet.
"But the Johnsons had us for dinner--which was just all right--and then we went to the church so they could try on baptismal clothes. They seem really excited."
2008. The zone leaders came to the house where we lived, and we watched President Hinckley's funeral on TV. Then Elder Gammon stayed in the area to work with me. We were walking around, and Elder Gammon said he felt impressed to knock on a house on Peone, but no one was home. When we were walking back to our house, he asked me if I shared the gospel with my friends before my mission. I told him that I didn't have any friends, but he didn't believe me. "Everyone has friends," he said, so I asked how he would define a friend. He said it was someone who you did things with. I told him that by that definition, I didn't have any friends. I told him a few anecdotes of irresponsible gospel sharing that I had done (or hadn't done). Then we drove over to a dinner appointment in the Northpointe Ward, and we tracted that street. The first guy told us not to come back. Another lady was not interested and said she had lived in Ogden. We knocked on one house and they didn't answer, but we heard a teenage boy say something like "I'm not a slut!" The next house was a member house. I was going to skip it, but Elder Gammon suggested talking to them anyway. So we knocked, and they let us in. We told them about our tracting experiences, and I relayed the experience we had had at the previous house, but I didn't realize that it probably wasn't appropriate for me to say that in their house. I asked how long it had been since the street had been tracted, and they said it was about a year. (That was my first area, so I thought that was too recent for comfort, but in later areas, I would have loved to find a street that hadn't been tracted in that time.) After dinner, a member in the Greenbluff Ward called and asked if we could come over. So I drove to their house, and they gave us some cinnamon rolls. We were meeting up with the other elders at Cold Stone, so Elder Gammon and I waited there. The last time we had met there, we had gotten ice cream, so I thought we were going to that time. Elder Gammon asked me, while we were waiting, if we should pray to start our fast. I said I wanted to wait, and he guessed that I wanted to get ice cream. But I said I wanted to wait for Elder Chun. We didn't get any ice cream. This is my journal entry for the day:
"Today the zone leaders came here and we watched President Hinckley's funeral and had lunch with the Welshes. Then Elder Gammon stayed with me in our area. We walked to a referral who wasn't home but we stopped by a less-active on our way back. Then we tracted around our dinner appointment and had a member visit after Tina Andersen, the lady to whom we gave a blessing after her car crash, gave us cinnamon rolls."
1997. Our primary chorister, Karen Brunner, had some sort of Groundhog Day activity for us in primary. She loved clipart, so she had a clipart groundhog, and then she had some pieces of paper that had the sun shining on the groundhog (meaning more winter), or a cloud preventing shadows (meaning spring). I don't remember what the point of it was.
1996. I think it was snowing, so when our principal, Mrs. Park, gave morning announcements, she said the groundhog must have seen its shadow.
1995. My mom told me that the groundhog hadn't seen its shadow, and everyone seemed to kind of think it was a big deal. I had never heard of Groundhog Day.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
February 13-15, 2013
I am going to remember last year's Valentine's Day, and the days
before and after it. I was going to remember Lincoln's Birthday as well,
but I couldn't really remember it.
On February 13, I watched A Charlie Brown Valentine, and then I read from Hamlet for class the next day. I found it appropriate that I read the scene where Ophelia went crazy and recited the verse about "Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's Day."
On February 14, I went to my phonetics class. One guy was wearing a shirt that was blue and pink. He said it looked like someone had thrown up candy hearts on his shirt. Usually I stayed on campus all day, but for some reason that morning I went home. As I was walking home, I saw Alex, who lived across the hall from me. We talked with each other as we walked home, and when we were almost home, I saw a car with a pine tree strapped to the top! I only expect to see that in November and December--not February. Later I went back up to campus. I was working in the library that day, and on my way to the library I saw my old roommate Jeff Anderson. I said hi to him, but he must have been in a hurry, because he said something about how I was still going to be around (at BYU) for a while and walked off. I went in the library and I walked past some people who were getting ready to water the library's plants. One of them was a girl whom I had been on a date with two weeks earlier. I walked past, but I figured when I walked back, I would say hi to her. I clocked in, and then I saw her walking away with a pitcher of water, and I wanted to say hi, but she walked away too fast--so later that day I texted her and wished her a Happy Valentine's Day. I went down to the second floor, where they had just gotten done with some Valentine event in which they gave out t-shirts and cookies. If I had been just a little earlier, I could have gotten some. I worked on some source checking, and then it came time for my Early Modern English class. Our professor, Dr. Hallen, had a little box of conversation hearts someone had given her, so she passed the box around for us to have some. That afternoon I went to Papa Murphy's to get a heart-shaped pizza (I think I called first to see if they had them). When I got there, it was super busy and I had to wait a long time. I'm not going to do that again. Then I went home, and I watched Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown after I cooked the pizza.
On February 15, I went to my historical geology class, and our professor, Dr. Britt, mentioned the meteor that had hit Russia that day. Then after class, I went to the Eyring, and since I was now permitted to eat green things, I was delighted to see mint brownie ice cream in the vending machine. So I got some, but I didn't have a spoon, so I went over to the JFSB to see if there was a spoon over there I could use. There wasn't, so I took a plastic ruler out of my backpack, rinsed it off, and used it as a spoon. Then it came time for my geology of planets of class. Dr. Radebaugh showed us clips of the Russian meteor (and I think my classmate Michael might have shown me first). It just so happened that it was also the day another meteor was coming close to earth, so we watched coverage of that with Bill Nye. Dr. Radebaugh needed to move on with class, and I was disappointed we didn't get to see the meteor get to its closest point. That afternoon I drove home. I went with my mom to Jo Ann's in Centerville, and I wanted to get some kind of St. Patrick's Day decoration. This was a new location, and the aisles were much smaller than in their old store, and I didn't like it. I was looking at a St. Patrick's Day rug, and there was another lady in the aisle. I left so she could get through, and she said she felt bad because it seemed like I quit looking at the rug just to let her past. But it was OK. I settled for a set of shamrock lights, and at the checkout we got some green mint M&Ms. Then we stopped at Taco Bell and got some things to take home for dinner.
On February 13, I watched A Charlie Brown Valentine, and then I read from Hamlet for class the next day. I found it appropriate that I read the scene where Ophelia went crazy and recited the verse about "Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's Day."
On February 14, I went to my phonetics class. One guy was wearing a shirt that was blue and pink. He said it looked like someone had thrown up candy hearts on his shirt. Usually I stayed on campus all day, but for some reason that morning I went home. As I was walking home, I saw Alex, who lived across the hall from me. We talked with each other as we walked home, and when we were almost home, I saw a car with a pine tree strapped to the top! I only expect to see that in November and December--not February. Later I went back up to campus. I was working in the library that day, and on my way to the library I saw my old roommate Jeff Anderson. I said hi to him, but he must have been in a hurry, because he said something about how I was still going to be around (at BYU) for a while and walked off. I went in the library and I walked past some people who were getting ready to water the library's plants. One of them was a girl whom I had been on a date with two weeks earlier. I walked past, but I figured when I walked back, I would say hi to her. I clocked in, and then I saw her walking away with a pitcher of water, and I wanted to say hi, but she walked away too fast--so later that day I texted her and wished her a Happy Valentine's Day. I went down to the second floor, where they had just gotten done with some Valentine event in which they gave out t-shirts and cookies. If I had been just a little earlier, I could have gotten some. I worked on some source checking, and then it came time for my Early Modern English class. Our professor, Dr. Hallen, had a little box of conversation hearts someone had given her, so she passed the box around for us to have some. That afternoon I went to Papa Murphy's to get a heart-shaped pizza (I think I called first to see if they had them). When I got there, it was super busy and I had to wait a long time. I'm not going to do that again. Then I went home, and I watched Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown after I cooked the pizza.
On February 15, I went to my historical geology class, and our professor, Dr. Britt, mentioned the meteor that had hit Russia that day. Then after class, I went to the Eyring, and since I was now permitted to eat green things, I was delighted to see mint brownie ice cream in the vending machine. So I got some, but I didn't have a spoon, so I went over to the JFSB to see if there was a spoon over there I could use. There wasn't, so I took a plastic ruler out of my backpack, rinsed it off, and used it as a spoon. Then it came time for my geology of planets of class. Dr. Radebaugh showed us clips of the Russian meteor (and I think my classmate Michael might have shown me first). It just so happened that it was also the day another meteor was coming close to earth, so we watched coverage of that with Bill Nye. Dr. Radebaugh needed to move on with class, and I was disappointed we didn't get to see the meteor get to its closest point. That afternoon I drove home. I went with my mom to Jo Ann's in Centerville, and I wanted to get some kind of St. Patrick's Day decoration. This was a new location, and the aisles were much smaller than in their old store, and I didn't like it. I was looking at a St. Patrick's Day rug, and there was another lady in the aisle. I left so she could get through, and she said she felt bad because it seemed like I quit looking at the rug just to let her past. But it was OK. I settled for a set of shamrock lights, and at the checkout we got some green mint M&Ms. Then we stopped at Taco Bell and got some things to take home for dinner.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Drunkards
D.A.R.E. and the Word of Wisdom have made me not want to drink--but my run-ins with drunk people (as well as watching YouTube videos of drunk people doing idiotic things) really made me realize what a bad idea drinking is. And I know that if I drank, I would be a total wine-o and get addicted fast. So no alcyhol for me. Here's why.
My first run-in with a drunk woman happened when I was four or five. There was a woman who was friends with my grandparents, and she had just flown in. My mom says that the flight attendant wouldn't let her leave until she knew someone was taking her, she was so tipsy. She had come in to visit my grandparents, but my grandpa was a bishop, and they were having a meeting at their house. My mom didn't find it fitting to let this woman interrupt a bishop's meeting, so she watched over this woman for a few hours. I remember her asking my mom if she could smoke in the car; she used the cigarette lighter for that very purpose. We went to Burger King for dinner, and we went to a park (my mom says it was for my sake, since it was rather odd for me to be around this drunk lady). When we got out of the car, I remember the woman saying "I'm free!!" (I think in the context of her no longer being in jail). At one point, I came up the hill where the adults were sitting, and I was huffing. The souse mimicked me, and I said, "You're mean!" I don't think it was just that one incident; I think I had felt that way the whole night, and that time was the last straw. Eventually we drove to my grandparents' house, but the meeting was still going on, and my mom wasn't going to let the woman go in.
I can't recall other incidents with drunks until my mission--and then I had a lot of them. One day I was on an exchange, and a guy answered the door. My temporary companion told me he was drunk, but I wasn't able to recognize drunks at that point.
A little later, we began teaching a man named Mark who had no control over his addictions. He smoked and drank excessively, and because of him, I can no longer smell the difference between cigarettes and beer--they're just the same in my mind. He was always drunk when we saw him. Once he wanted us to go over to Borders to buy a book for him. It was Sunday (but we wouldn't have bought it for him anyway), so we told him no, and he said we couldn't come back if we didn't buy it for him. When we met him, he had very long hair and a beard, so Elder Chun offered to clean him up. We took clippers over, and Elder Chun cut his hair. I shaved his beard. We did this while he was drunk. He seemed appreciative of us, but the next time he wasn't happy. His member friend came over, and he complained, "He ****ed up my hair!" (We quit seeing him, but I think he did quit drinking.)
Later I went to East Wenatchee. On the Fourth of July, we passed a woman puking in the bushes.
Soon thereafter, my companion's two years were up, so I was spending time with the adjacent elders until I got my new companion. On P-day we got out of our car to go shopping at Fred Meyer. I don't remember what we were talking about, but there was this lady wearing tight pants and really poofy hair who said to us, "I heard that! Now which one of you is an Indian?" We were all kind of perplexed, because we were not saying anything related to Indians. Then she began to do this weird trot in the opposite direction, and then she stopped, looked up to the sky, and said, "I'm not drunk!" My thought was, "We never said you were, but now that you mention it..." That became a running joke from then on.
Later that summer, my companion and I were walking down the street when we met this guy standing in his yard. He had no shirt on, his smiley-face boxers peeking out at the waist of his loose jeans. He had a younger friend with him wearing a Mighty Mouse shirt (I think the only shirt he owned). I think the smell of alcohol was what gave him away as drunk. We began a gospel conversation with us, and he brought up the passage in the Bible that said "Sun" instead of "Son"; I knew he was talking about Malachi. He became very adamant that we should observe the sabbath on Saturday, not Sunday. He began talking to us loudly and forcefully, and told us "Go, and sin no more!" So we began to leave. But then he invited us back. I began talking with him, while my companion was talking to the friend. Suddenly, he quit talking and looked away, concerned. I looked over, and two policemen were approaching us. Apparently a neighbor had heard him yelling at us. I was appreciative that strangers were concerned about our well-being. This man (Terry was his name) apologized for not having a belt for his pants, and he explained that he was talking loudly because he had a sore throat. I found that an incredibly lame excuse. I didn't feel threatened, but I would have gladly left. Elder Duncan, however, set it up for us to stay. (Terry turned out to be just as crazy when he was sober.)
The following summer, I was serving in Lewiston, ID. One night I was on exchanges, and we talked to this guy who was in his yard. He told us that he didn't need to go to church because his garden was his church. We learned that week in ward council that he was drunk every night (he was married to a less-active member).
We also covered Lapwai, an Indian reservation. Unfortunately, the Indian stereotypes are often true, and one day we were biking down the road when we saw a middle-aged Indian staggering down the sidewalk. Elder Warren (who was half-Indian himself) found it hilarious.
One September day, we were tracting in Lewiston. We began talking to a man who was sitting on his back porch. He was very friendly, but there was a huge pile of empty beer cans next to him. We were talking to him, and he had to keep asking who we were. He told us that the first Christian church was Joseph and Mary and Baby Jesus in the stable. He began "summarizing" the beliefs of different Christian denominations. Lewiston is situated in the Lewis-Clark Valley, so he told us that Lewis and Clark were actually Adolf Hitler and Franklin Roosevelt out exploring together when they were younger. He even remembered who was who. I had the hardest time keeping myself from laughing.
One October Saturday found us in Lapwai again. This guy came up to us, and Elder Tamblyn was wearing sunglasses. He told us that he hated God because God took his son away. He had put his son before God, so God took him away. He told Elder Tamblyn that "a Christian man" shouldn't wear "black eyes" (sunglasses). He kept telling us he wasn't drunk. We told him we would talk to him when he was sober, but he kept insisting he wasn't drunk.
On another occasion, Elder Tamblyn and I went back to the house where I had met the guy who said his garden was his church. The wife was very friendly and invited us in, but her drunk husband was in the other room, and he kept yelling out unfriendly comments, and they had to shush him. They had an elementary-school-aged son, as well as some other kids. I felt so bad for the wife and kids that they had this loser addict of a husband/father. They were obviously embarrassed by his actions. This family was a prime example of how drinking can ruin lives and families.
I can't recall running into drunks since I've been home--but it might have happened.
My first run-in with a drunk woman happened when I was four or five. There was a woman who was friends with my grandparents, and she had just flown in. My mom says that the flight attendant wouldn't let her leave until she knew someone was taking her, she was so tipsy. She had come in to visit my grandparents, but my grandpa was a bishop, and they were having a meeting at their house. My mom didn't find it fitting to let this woman interrupt a bishop's meeting, so she watched over this woman for a few hours. I remember her asking my mom if she could smoke in the car; she used the cigarette lighter for that very purpose. We went to Burger King for dinner, and we went to a park (my mom says it was for my sake, since it was rather odd for me to be around this drunk lady). When we got out of the car, I remember the woman saying "I'm free!!" (I think in the context of her no longer being in jail). At one point, I came up the hill where the adults were sitting, and I was huffing. The souse mimicked me, and I said, "You're mean!" I don't think it was just that one incident; I think I had felt that way the whole night, and that time was the last straw. Eventually we drove to my grandparents' house, but the meeting was still going on, and my mom wasn't going to let the woman go in.
I can't recall other incidents with drunks until my mission--and then I had a lot of them. One day I was on an exchange, and a guy answered the door. My temporary companion told me he was drunk, but I wasn't able to recognize drunks at that point.
A little later, we began teaching a man named Mark who had no control over his addictions. He smoked and drank excessively, and because of him, I can no longer smell the difference between cigarettes and beer--they're just the same in my mind. He was always drunk when we saw him. Once he wanted us to go over to Borders to buy a book for him. It was Sunday (but we wouldn't have bought it for him anyway), so we told him no, and he said we couldn't come back if we didn't buy it for him. When we met him, he had very long hair and a beard, so Elder Chun offered to clean him up. We took clippers over, and Elder Chun cut his hair. I shaved his beard. We did this while he was drunk. He seemed appreciative of us, but the next time he wasn't happy. His member friend came over, and he complained, "He ****ed up my hair!" (We quit seeing him, but I think he did quit drinking.)
Later I went to East Wenatchee. On the Fourth of July, we passed a woman puking in the bushes.
Soon thereafter, my companion's two years were up, so I was spending time with the adjacent elders until I got my new companion. On P-day we got out of our car to go shopping at Fred Meyer. I don't remember what we were talking about, but there was this lady wearing tight pants and really poofy hair who said to us, "I heard that! Now which one of you is an Indian?" We were all kind of perplexed, because we were not saying anything related to Indians. Then she began to do this weird trot in the opposite direction, and then she stopped, looked up to the sky, and said, "I'm not drunk!" My thought was, "We never said you were, but now that you mention it..." That became a running joke from then on.
Later that summer, my companion and I were walking down the street when we met this guy standing in his yard. He had no shirt on, his smiley-face boxers peeking out at the waist of his loose jeans. He had a younger friend with him wearing a Mighty Mouse shirt (I think the only shirt he owned). I think the smell of alcohol was what gave him away as drunk. We began a gospel conversation with us, and he brought up the passage in the Bible that said "Sun" instead of "Son"; I knew he was talking about Malachi. He became very adamant that we should observe the sabbath on Saturday, not Sunday. He began talking to us loudly and forcefully, and told us "Go, and sin no more!" So we began to leave. But then he invited us back. I began talking with him, while my companion was talking to the friend. Suddenly, he quit talking and looked away, concerned. I looked over, and two policemen were approaching us. Apparently a neighbor had heard him yelling at us. I was appreciative that strangers were concerned about our well-being. This man (Terry was his name) apologized for not having a belt for his pants, and he explained that he was talking loudly because he had a sore throat. I found that an incredibly lame excuse. I didn't feel threatened, but I would have gladly left. Elder Duncan, however, set it up for us to stay. (Terry turned out to be just as crazy when he was sober.)
The following summer, I was serving in Lewiston, ID. One night I was on exchanges, and we talked to this guy who was in his yard. He told us that he didn't need to go to church because his garden was his church. We learned that week in ward council that he was drunk every night (he was married to a less-active member).
We also covered Lapwai, an Indian reservation. Unfortunately, the Indian stereotypes are often true, and one day we were biking down the road when we saw a middle-aged Indian staggering down the sidewalk. Elder Warren (who was half-Indian himself) found it hilarious.
One September day, we were tracting in Lewiston. We began talking to a man who was sitting on his back porch. He was very friendly, but there was a huge pile of empty beer cans next to him. We were talking to him, and he had to keep asking who we were. He told us that the first Christian church was Joseph and Mary and Baby Jesus in the stable. He began "summarizing" the beliefs of different Christian denominations. Lewiston is situated in the Lewis-Clark Valley, so he told us that Lewis and Clark were actually Adolf Hitler and Franklin Roosevelt out exploring together when they were younger. He even remembered who was who. I had the hardest time keeping myself from laughing.
One October Saturday found us in Lapwai again. This guy came up to us, and Elder Tamblyn was wearing sunglasses. He told us that he hated God because God took his son away. He had put his son before God, so God took him away. He told Elder Tamblyn that "a Christian man" shouldn't wear "black eyes" (sunglasses). He kept telling us he wasn't drunk. We told him we would talk to him when he was sober, but he kept insisting he wasn't drunk.
On another occasion, Elder Tamblyn and I went back to the house where I had met the guy who said his garden was his church. The wife was very friendly and invited us in, but her drunk husband was in the other room, and he kept yelling out unfriendly comments, and they had to shush him. They had an elementary-school-aged son, as well as some other kids. I felt so bad for the wife and kids that they had this loser addict of a husband/father. They were obviously embarrassed by his actions. This family was a prime example of how drinking can ruin lives and families.
I can't recall running into drunks since I've been home--but it might have happened.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Transfer day
In the life of a missionary, one of the biggest days is the day you are transferred into a new area. You don't know how your companion is going to be, and you are completely disoriented. All the places you knew so well in your last area are obsolete, and it's time to start again. So I'm going to remember the five transfer days I experienced on my mission.
December 18, 2007. We new missionaries had spent the night at the home of some members, and they gave us breakfast. They drove us to the stake center, where we were to meet our new trainers. I got Elder Chun. We had an orientation and then headed to our areas. I met Brother Gibby, who took us to lunch at a Thai restaurant. Then we went to his office to wait until he headed home. He showed us a documentary he had made about the Church in the Spokane area. After that, he started another documentary he had made, which annoyed Elder Chun, because he wanted to go over our plans with me. So we just tried to ignore the documentary. Then we went to our house, where the Welshes, an elderly couple, lived. I met Harold, the ex-con who lived in the room next to ours. Then we went to a member dinner. A two-year-old in the house came upstairs with red marker all over her mouth--Elder Chun thought it was hilarious and said she looked like a vampire, but the girl's mother and grandmother were not so amused. We ate beef stew; I said that I didn't like beef stew but that I liked that one. Then we had a member pick us up to go visit people. I put a cinnamon Listerine strip in my mouth, and the member said I smelled like a Christmas tree. I didn't know what we were doing, but we tried to see less-active members who lived in the middle of nowhere. At one point we knocked on a neighbor's door to see if they knew about the people we were looking for.
June 3, 2008. I got up early, and the Welshes took me to the stake center by the temple so I could get on the transfer van. I met my MTC companion, Elder Hightower, and he told me he was training but didn't want to. In fact, the other elders of my MTC district were training as well; I was the only one who wasn't. (I never did.) Elder Chun was there to be transferred, and he came out and said hi to Sister Welsh. Eventually it was time to load up and leave. The missionaries in the van decided to listen to a talk by Bruce R. McConkie about seven deadly heresies in the Church; I was annoyed when one of his heresies was believing that evolution can be compatible with the gospel, and one of the other elders nodded in agreement. (If that had happened today, I would have explained the Church's official position, or rather non-position.) We stopped in Moses Lake, where Brother Olsen and Elder Bramall (BRAM-ull) were there to pick me up. We went to Arctic Circle for lunch, but the one there wasn't as good as the ones in Utah. Elder Bramall and Brother Olsen had a conversation about how often we missionaries ate out (about once a week). When we arrived in East Wenatchee, we talked about the member lesson we would give that night. I showed Elder Bramall the object lesson I had, which he liked, especially since the family had kids. We went to dinner with the Hill family. I was trying to be more outgoing in that new area, but apparently it didn't work, because one of the little girls said, "That missionary doesn't say a single word." Her mom told her that maybe she should try to ask me some questions, but she was too scared to do that. When I gave the prayer before we left, I accidentally called them the Hunts instead of the Hills. As we were leaving, Sister Hill shrieked because their baby son had put his hand in his diaper. Here is my journal entry for the day:
"The last few days have been somewhat hectic, but now I'm safely in East Wenatchee with Elder Bramall.
"I'm scared because I am killing him at the end of the transfer. Therefore I must rapidly learn the area to be prepared. Elder Bramall isn't one of the super fun missionaries--which is fine by me but it's the first time I've had a companion like me. This is his sixth transfer here so he really knows it so it'll be a stark contrast once I take over. This is my time to grow."
October 7, 2008. Brother Raab came to pick me up to take me to Spokane. I put my suitcase in his trunk, and he was acting a little gruff. I said goodbye to Elders Duncan, Moench, and Dobbins, and we were off. We stopped in Moses Lake, and then we stopped in Cheney so that Brother Raab could give some apples to his sister. Then he took me to the mission office to wait for my companion. Some missionaries were there, including Elder LaPratt, who introduced himself to me when he found out I would be in his district. I thought he was really weird looking. (I later learned he's ugly on the outside because he's ugly on the inside.) President Clark kept saying, "Poor Elder Melville," since I had to keep waiting. He told me I could go in the back and study (he didn't seem to like the idea of me just sitting there). President was having interviews with different missionaries. Eventually Elder Jack, one of the senior office missionaries, asked President if he needed me for anything. Elder Jack needed help with mission vehicles. First I rode with him and then picked up a vehicle, and I had to drive it back. It was weird being in a car all by myself, and I had to turn the radio off. Then he needed help getting a truck to be repaired. I had to back it up out of the parking lot, which terrified me, since I had never driven a pickup before, much less backed it up. I had to follow Elder Jack, and I was terrified for several reasons: 1) I had never driven a pickup before, 2) the truck had soft brakes (hence the need to be repaired), 3) I was in an unfamiliar area, and 4) I was alone in the vehicle. I kept waiting until eventually Elder Love showed up with Sister Stackhouse's son. Then we drove to Davenport. As we passed through Reardan, Elder Love pointed it out to me and said it was one of our towns. When we got into Davenport, I dropped off my stuff at the Herrons', where we stayed at the beginning of the week. Then we went and saw Sister Stackhouse. She offered us dinner, but Elder Love declined; he later explained they didn't have a lot of money. Then we drove out of town a little bit to visit a part-member family, the Zellers (they were having a tater tot casserole, which seemed to be a favorite meal in that area), and then another member family, whose name I can't remember. They gave us dinner. The husband explained why he didn't like the missionary I replaced.
February 10, 2009. Elder Wilson and I had stayed in Cheney because it was closer to Spokane. I think that morning the sisters came to get their laundry (they did theirs at the house where the Cheney elders lived) and I offered them some of the Valentine candy I wasn't going to take to my new area. We went to the stake center by the temple, and I said goodbye to Elder Wilson. I met Elder Betenson, and we piled into Brother Dan's vehicle. Elder Proctor was also getting a ride with us, and he had fishing poles that barely fit. Brother Dan was talking about having to have a cold shower because the missionary I replaced had done his laundry that morning because he didn't want to have to pack any dirty laundry. Elder Proctor was trying to defend such actions, but no one bought it. We ended up at the Dans' house, and I took my stuff downstairs. Then we went out visiting people. We stopped at a member home to use the restroom, and they offered us hot chocolate. I accepted, thinking that I wanted to get to know the members. But that was a little wasteful of time, since we were having dinner there that night, but I didn't know that. I apologized to Elder Betenson afterward, since I didn't know we were eating there. When we went there for dinner, they played a prank on me by pretending that we were eating a soup that had a fish head and other unwanted food in it. This is my journal entry for the day:
"So today Elder Wilson and Elder Holtom took me up to the Valley stake center to wait for my new companion. I was able to see my Elder Love, which very well could have been the last time.
"I am now with Elder Betensen [sic] in Hayden, in the home of the Dans. Today we saw some members and some others. I am glad that I'm momming [first companion after training] him, because he's already on the ball, so I don't have to do too much.
"Hayden is a fairly rich area. Elder Betensen thinks it's average, but these homes would be considered pretty nice in my previous areas."
May 5, 2009. Some older members took me to the stake center for transfers. Elder Colton was there and told me I looked good, since I had lost about 20 pounds in Hayden. I had planned on riding the transfer van all day and stopping in Colfax to get picked up when they were returning to Spokane, but the APs informed me there wasn't room for me to do that. So I had to get off at the first Colfax stop. We went into the gas station there, and I asked Elder Maxfield where he was going. He told me that he was the new AP, that there were three of them. I told him that I had heard Elder Wakefield was the new AP but that surprised me, and I felt bad because I didn't realize that Elder Wakefield was close by. I rode down to Lewiston with Elder Hinebaugh and Elder Foerster and their member. I was really quiet, but at some point I said that small towns were good at decorating for Christmas. The member stopped for us to take a picture outside of Lewiston.
The member dropped me off at our apartment, and he said that "Bishop" Catmull next door would help us if we needed anything. Elder LaPratt came, since he had been with someone so he wouldn't be alone, and the first thing he said was, "You've lost weight!" I took my stuff up, and we walked around that day. That night before bed Elder LaPratt and I had a conversation about missionaries and stuff. That was the only real conversation I ever had with him, because he was an evil person and wouldn't talk to me after that. This is my journal entry for the day:
"So the hectic several days are now over, and I am now safe and sound in Lewiston. The saddest thing about leaving Hayden was probably the Williams family. Robert basically did a confession to us last night.
"It's odd--I never really warmed up to Hayden. Logically it seemed I could be there a while, but I never really felt at home there. Sure, it was nice, but I didn't really feel attached to it as I did my other areas.
"I will probably change my mind, but I kind of think today that Lewiston looks like Wenatchee--not my side of the river, but when I went on exchanges, it just feels familiar."
December 18, 2007. We new missionaries had spent the night at the home of some members, and they gave us breakfast. They drove us to the stake center, where we were to meet our new trainers. I got Elder Chun. We had an orientation and then headed to our areas. I met Brother Gibby, who took us to lunch at a Thai restaurant. Then we went to his office to wait until he headed home. He showed us a documentary he had made about the Church in the Spokane area. After that, he started another documentary he had made, which annoyed Elder Chun, because he wanted to go over our plans with me. So we just tried to ignore the documentary. Then we went to our house, where the Welshes, an elderly couple, lived. I met Harold, the ex-con who lived in the room next to ours. Then we went to a member dinner. A two-year-old in the house came upstairs with red marker all over her mouth--Elder Chun thought it was hilarious and said she looked like a vampire, but the girl's mother and grandmother were not so amused. We ate beef stew; I said that I didn't like beef stew but that I liked that one. Then we had a member pick us up to go visit people. I put a cinnamon Listerine strip in my mouth, and the member said I smelled like a Christmas tree. I didn't know what we were doing, but we tried to see less-active members who lived in the middle of nowhere. At one point we knocked on a neighbor's door to see if they knew about the people we were looking for.
June 3, 2008. I got up early, and the Welshes took me to the stake center by the temple so I could get on the transfer van. I met my MTC companion, Elder Hightower, and he told me he was training but didn't want to. In fact, the other elders of my MTC district were training as well; I was the only one who wasn't. (I never did.) Elder Chun was there to be transferred, and he came out and said hi to Sister Welsh. Eventually it was time to load up and leave. The missionaries in the van decided to listen to a talk by Bruce R. McConkie about seven deadly heresies in the Church; I was annoyed when one of his heresies was believing that evolution can be compatible with the gospel, and one of the other elders nodded in agreement. (If that had happened today, I would have explained the Church's official position, or rather non-position.) We stopped in Moses Lake, where Brother Olsen and Elder Bramall (BRAM-ull) were there to pick me up. We went to Arctic Circle for lunch, but the one there wasn't as good as the ones in Utah. Elder Bramall and Brother Olsen had a conversation about how often we missionaries ate out (about once a week). When we arrived in East Wenatchee, we talked about the member lesson we would give that night. I showed Elder Bramall the object lesson I had, which he liked, especially since the family had kids. We went to dinner with the Hill family. I was trying to be more outgoing in that new area, but apparently it didn't work, because one of the little girls said, "That missionary doesn't say a single word." Her mom told her that maybe she should try to ask me some questions, but she was too scared to do that. When I gave the prayer before we left, I accidentally called them the Hunts instead of the Hills. As we were leaving, Sister Hill shrieked because their baby son had put his hand in his diaper. Here is my journal entry for the day:
"The last few days have been somewhat hectic, but now I'm safely in East Wenatchee with Elder Bramall.
"I'm scared because I am killing him at the end of the transfer. Therefore I must rapidly learn the area to be prepared. Elder Bramall isn't one of the super fun missionaries--which is fine by me but it's the first time I've had a companion like me. This is his sixth transfer here so he really knows it so it'll be a stark contrast once I take over. This is my time to grow."
October 7, 2008. Brother Raab came to pick me up to take me to Spokane. I put my suitcase in his trunk, and he was acting a little gruff. I said goodbye to Elders Duncan, Moench, and Dobbins, and we were off. We stopped in Moses Lake, and then we stopped in Cheney so that Brother Raab could give some apples to his sister. Then he took me to the mission office to wait for my companion. Some missionaries were there, including Elder LaPratt, who introduced himself to me when he found out I would be in his district. I thought he was really weird looking. (I later learned he's ugly on the outside because he's ugly on the inside.) President Clark kept saying, "Poor Elder Melville," since I had to keep waiting. He told me I could go in the back and study (he didn't seem to like the idea of me just sitting there). President was having interviews with different missionaries. Eventually Elder Jack, one of the senior office missionaries, asked President if he needed me for anything. Elder Jack needed help with mission vehicles. First I rode with him and then picked up a vehicle, and I had to drive it back. It was weird being in a car all by myself, and I had to turn the radio off. Then he needed help getting a truck to be repaired. I had to back it up out of the parking lot, which terrified me, since I had never driven a pickup before, much less backed it up. I had to follow Elder Jack, and I was terrified for several reasons: 1) I had never driven a pickup before, 2) the truck had soft brakes (hence the need to be repaired), 3) I was in an unfamiliar area, and 4) I was alone in the vehicle. I kept waiting until eventually Elder Love showed up with Sister Stackhouse's son. Then we drove to Davenport. As we passed through Reardan, Elder Love pointed it out to me and said it was one of our towns. When we got into Davenport, I dropped off my stuff at the Herrons', where we stayed at the beginning of the week. Then we went and saw Sister Stackhouse. She offered us dinner, but Elder Love declined; he later explained they didn't have a lot of money. Then we drove out of town a little bit to visit a part-member family, the Zellers (they were having a tater tot casserole, which seemed to be a favorite meal in that area), and then another member family, whose name I can't remember. They gave us dinner. The husband explained why he didn't like the missionary I replaced.
February 10, 2009. Elder Wilson and I had stayed in Cheney because it was closer to Spokane. I think that morning the sisters came to get their laundry (they did theirs at the house where the Cheney elders lived) and I offered them some of the Valentine candy I wasn't going to take to my new area. We went to the stake center by the temple, and I said goodbye to Elder Wilson. I met Elder Betenson, and we piled into Brother Dan's vehicle. Elder Proctor was also getting a ride with us, and he had fishing poles that barely fit. Brother Dan was talking about having to have a cold shower because the missionary I replaced had done his laundry that morning because he didn't want to have to pack any dirty laundry. Elder Proctor was trying to defend such actions, but no one bought it. We ended up at the Dans' house, and I took my stuff downstairs. Then we went out visiting people. We stopped at a member home to use the restroom, and they offered us hot chocolate. I accepted, thinking that I wanted to get to know the members. But that was a little wasteful of time, since we were having dinner there that night, but I didn't know that. I apologized to Elder Betenson afterward, since I didn't know we were eating there. When we went there for dinner, they played a prank on me by pretending that we were eating a soup that had a fish head and other unwanted food in it. This is my journal entry for the day:
"So today Elder Wilson and Elder Holtom took me up to the Valley stake center to wait for my new companion. I was able to see my Elder Love, which very well could have been the last time.
"I am now with Elder Betensen [sic] in Hayden, in the home of the Dans. Today we saw some members and some others. I am glad that I'm momming [first companion after training] him, because he's already on the ball, so I don't have to do too much.
"Hayden is a fairly rich area. Elder Betensen thinks it's average, but these homes would be considered pretty nice in my previous areas."
May 5, 2009. Some older members took me to the stake center for transfers. Elder Colton was there and told me I looked good, since I had lost about 20 pounds in Hayden. I had planned on riding the transfer van all day and stopping in Colfax to get picked up when they were returning to Spokane, but the APs informed me there wasn't room for me to do that. So I had to get off at the first Colfax stop. We went into the gas station there, and I asked Elder Maxfield where he was going. He told me that he was the new AP, that there were three of them. I told him that I had heard Elder Wakefield was the new AP but that surprised me, and I felt bad because I didn't realize that Elder Wakefield was close by. I rode down to Lewiston with Elder Hinebaugh and Elder Foerster and their member. I was really quiet, but at some point I said that small towns were good at decorating for Christmas. The member stopped for us to take a picture outside of Lewiston.
 |
| It was after this picture that I realized my shirt was too big. |
"So the hectic several days are now over, and I am now safe and sound in Lewiston. The saddest thing about leaving Hayden was probably the Williams family. Robert basically did a confession to us last night.
"It's odd--I never really warmed up to Hayden. Logically it seemed I could be there a while, but I never really felt at home there. Sure, it was nice, but I didn't really feel attached to it as I did my other areas.
"I will probably change my mind, but I kind of think today that Lewiston looks like Wenatchee--not my side of the river, but when I went on exchanges, it just feels familiar."
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