Mission Stories

I was inspired by a recent post by Laurel. So now it's my turn.

I was in the office for about 10 months of my mission as the financial secretary. Now before you think I was a slacker, those 10 months were probably the most productive of my mission as far as teaching is concerned. I worked in the office 5 days a week like any normal job (i.e.: 9-5) so the time we were out proselyting was very concentrated and effective. Our challenge from the mission president was to lead the mission in everything we did. And the Lord blessed us accordingly. It was awesome.

But on to a lighter side of the mission, here are a few random excerpts from my journal. Enjoy. :)

May 18, 1998
Pobresito Elder Axtell!! This morning I decided to throw a cold cup of water on him while he was taking a shower. Without knowing, Elder Romney had gotten him yesterday morning also. So I was blamed for both. Then Elder Romney got him again. So I got another cup and said, (before tossing over the shower), "Now you know it wasn't me, right?". He screamed and we laughed. He came into the bedroom and looked at me with bloodshot eyes. "Look--two days in a row. Water hits me and I open my eyes to see who did it...and shampoo flows in my eyes!" I laughed so hard. Elder Axtell's fun. And I've had the giggles the past couple days. I threw a blanket on Elder Romney yesterday and he's been sneezing ever since! Good times.

February 15, 1999
Today we had a fun activity. The entire district went up to La Sierra to see some waterfalls. Here's a Seinfeld moment: we were walking down a trail to get to another part of the river. Elder Soderquist (a greenie) all of a sudden stopped and was grabbing his arm. He apparently got stung and I looked down and saw a few black bugs flying around. Elder Poulsen and I were looking at the wound to see if the stinger was still there. Hermana Christensen and hermana Sanchez were walking towards us. Right when hermana Christensen was asking what was wrong, she grabbed her hand in pain. Without any warning, I immediately grabbed my arm in pain. At this point, Elder Poulsen took off running back to an open field. As he passed hermana Sanchez, she screams out in pain and grabs her arm. We all ran back and looked at each others stings. Those stings were killers! It swelled up pretty big, made a rash, and made the muscles in our arms sore. It was just funny how it happened. Some native up there said the sting makes you throw up and have a fever. Elder Soderquist had some ointment so we all put it on. Eventually the swelling went down and none of us got sick. The situation gave me a good laugh. We all got stung one right after the other and Poulsen took off running. To get home we hitched a ride in the back of a Pepsi truck--all eight of us. We had a good time.

October 17, 1998
So last night as E. Watson and I were walking home, we came up to three big dogs resting on the side of the road. It was very calm and peaceful. Then Elder Christensen gets an evil idea and without thinking of the outcome, gives E. Watson a good shove towards the sleeping beasts. Boy should you have been there! I was laughing the rest of the night. He tried to stop his momentum from charging the nearest dog. Immediately all three dogs showed how big their teeth were and surrounded Watson. He was hopping and jumping in every direction swinging his bag around trying to preserve his own life. He was screaming and I was rolling around on the ground. The dogs didn't even take notice of me! Poor Elder Watson. He got out of it safely and I apologized; but to this point can't stop laughing about it.