So I mosied myself out of my parents home and gave my aging geriatric cat some excessive amounts of petting (I think he was in total bliss during several parts), and took off for Barstow.
During the trip I found out that the Truck stop I had found a pinball machine (Yes, I know, I am a freak) at had been remodeled. There was no pinball machine. If any of you ever see a “Creature from the Black Lagoon” let me know. I had to drown my sorrows in Taco Bell (I know, I must really hate my body).
I then just drove on, eventually hitting Las Vegas. At this point, I tried to contact an old friend of mine, Jerad, but was unable to find him. So instead I went to gas up and got lost. Thank goodness to my natural sense of direction I was back on the Interstate forty minutes later.
As I passed into California I found a lot of old memories coming back. There were new things (spooky abandonded water park, in the middle of the desert, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!?!). I got stopped coming into the state to make sure I didn’t have any non regulation fruits or vegitables.
Getting closer to Barstow, my excitement peaked. Then I was in Barstow.. The city has changed, but very much stayed the same. I proceeded to drive around until I found my old chapel, the place I lived at (in the ghetto, so in the ghetto) the elementry school I volunteered at. The hotel I am at is right across from the Supermarket that went under and we bought enough frozen food at 50 percent off to last us a good month (we were so proud of that). Memories of walking by the four square church, the marine recruitment station.
I brought one of my mission journals, and was looking for some names of those I baptised. What I did find out was that one of the guys I knew was on Mission.net but that the girl I figured he’d married, well, he didn’t. She was one of the must fulfilling stories of my mission. So Debbie Martinez, if you every google yourself here, let me know.
I then proceeded to eat at all the little areas I remembered (Carrows, Fosters Freeze). I am planning on gaining like 20lbs during this outing. Ohhhhh I will be slathering myself in In-N-Out Hamburgers soon.
Later on today I’ll be heading to church and then journeying to the Island Empire to take some more photos and live some old memories.
Today is day two. Day one consisted of me working to get out of bed and then packing. As a lot of you know, it takes a lot for me to pack, because, well, I pack everything.
Yes. I really am a freak of nature. I’ve had family and friends tell me this. After getting all the junk packed, I proceeded to hit the road. Seven hours later, I made it to the Parents house. Soon I was seeing grandparents, cousins and uncles. It was a good time, and I particularly enjoyed confusing a little cousin of mine.
Now comes the drive to the mission grounds.
To address some comments. Momma Moore: Not enough time, but next time up here, I won’t ignore ya’ll. To everyone else, thanks.
Oh, and while everyone else in the world was in line to get a Harry Potter book (So, those of you have read Deathly Hallows already, is it worth it?). I was at my parents reading blogs and found “Hung up” by Madonna (via The Voice of Reason). It’s catchy, its dance centric, and Madonna. So be aware if you watch the video that there are things you might object to in the video(I do want that boom box).
This weekend I was at the farmers market because I am all into markets with farmers.
Meaning that I was busy getting myself some expensive fresh bread, some expensive fresh salsa, and some cheap potatoes.
After the buying of the fruit tarts and rasberry confections I wandered around a bit, took my fresh foods and started my trek back to the bachelor apartment.
Somewhere along the way I decided I wanted a health shake so I stopped at the local smoothie place.
After a few minutes of standing at the counter looking for what delicious blend of sherbert, fruits, and powdery goodness I wanted to consume, a cute girl I know comes out and asks me what I want.
Me: *hemin and hawin*
Her: “This over here is good”
Me: *notices a carmel apple shake poster on the wall*
Me: “That looks nasty” *makes gagging noises*
Her: “Oh, its really good, if you like carmel”
Me: “It really looks nasty! Who’d want those two things together”
Her: “Oh no, I really like it”
Me: “Really?”
Her: “Yes, it’s really good”
Me: “Well OK..”
Her: “But you probably want more of a breakfast smoothie”
Me: “Ok. What do you recommend”
Her: “X Smoothie”
And I buy X Smoothie, drink it and walk out the door before I realize
I almost BOUGHT a shake that I was pretty sure was NASTY because a cute girl was telling me she liked it.
All the sudden I realized that poor Adam probably didn’t have a chance…
Lately I’ve been moving from one thing, to another, to another.
I know this is supposed to be good. Having an active social life that doesn’t have me sitting behind a flickering terminal that makes me all white and pasty is good no?
I just realized I have a mission reunion.
In Utah.
Tommarow
at 6pm.
Now I’m getting all stressed because I am such a loser that I haven’t missed one since 1997. And now it looks like I’m going to miss my first reunion.
I recently had a friend talk to me about what boiled down to faith. I won’t mention names (yet again) to protect the innocent. It was a very interesting discussion. The gist of the discussion was how do I believe what I do.
At the end of the day, I believe what I do because I have a relationship with my Creator. Based on that relationship, I have faith that I am on the correct course for my life. That the Religion I follow is the correct one. Do I have some difficulties with the culture of the Church? Sometimes. Do I believe in the Doctrine? Absolutely. There are parts of the culture and administration that have and will change. The basic Doctrines of Faith, Repentance, Baptism and the Holy Ghost will never change. The Atonement will never change.
To me, my religious faith is no different than my scientific faith. Much as I rely on men and women who are experts in their field to understand why principles work, I rely on men who are led and inspired to led the followers of Christ.
At the end of the day, I can’t tell you how gravity works. I can’t tell you the mechanics of how God touches peoples lives. I can see how both affect people.
My youngest brother is currently serving a misison in the Raleigh North Carolina mission. My father regularly copies the letters he sends home to the blog, for the entire Internets to see.In his last entry he says
And the last two Mondays have been right after 2 major holidays (Christmas and New Year’s Day), making the Monday a working holiday and those closing off all of the public buildings. So, all I’ve been stuck with is snail mail, showing how tough it was for the pioneers of missionary work (Chris and Gordon).
That’s right! Why back in my day, we didn’t even have these things called Internet and e-mail, we corresponded via Terodactyl, and we liked it! I mean really, do ya’ll know how long it took to hand write a letter. And then to re-write it so that someone else besides me could read it?!?! It took FOREVER. (Well, FOREVER + 1 Day). I got harshed for finding a word processor/typewriter and writing some letters that may have looked a bit the same, but trust me, they weren’t.
Don’t make me recount the story of how my best friends mom played a evil, evil trick on me while I was in the last months of my mission. I wouldn’t want to make ya’ll cry.
So, later on, Michael says:
So, we proceeded on with the baptism…which had to be done twice! I guess her head didn’t go down all the way.
Once again, Michael is following in my footsteps. I had to baptize one person three times. By the time the third baptism was happening I was determined to make it the last.
And thanks to the fact that water hit people two rows back, I earned the nickname “Shamu”.
