My companion has said for years that one of the stores that
makes her feel ‘peaceful’ is Staples.
She loves to buy office supplies!
In fact, when I used to go grocery shopping with her here in NYC (before
she began driving), I would sometimes stand between her and the office supplies
and say (in a cleverly police-like voice), “Move away from the office
supplies!!” However, I don’t think it ‘took’. What began as a small handful of pens and
colored pencils brought along in the car from Washington, has morphed into
literally hundreds! (This certainly isn’t
all of them…) You may ask how I put up
with this egregious character flaw!? I
remind myself that it certainly could be worse—it could be jewelry! I think my companion is more excited to return
to her private office at home than almost anything else!! (Oh, the hardships of
missionary life!)
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| Note the professional use of the ruler in the foreground to provide scale... |
As you may have noted, I don’t have very significant news to
write about this week. I did go home
teaching for the first time in NY (one at the church, and one a ‘drop off
cookies so we can get a real appointment later’ visit). My informal companion is Jay Stonehill. I say ‘informal’ because he’s not a member
yet, but we are all hopeful he will be someday soon. As we stood on the porch after knocking on
the door, Jay said, “Now I get a feeling what the elders must feel like, not
knowing what the reception will be…” They
weren’t home, so we left the cookies and a note. (Talking to the fulltime sisters later in the
week, they said they got thanked for the cookies when they called the family! I guess my note wasn’t that memorable…)
I also got rid of five mission cars that were for sale. The church gives me 60-90 days to sell them
via Craigslist and the member grapevine, then sells them to auction
houses. My brother Randy has bought
several cars from auctions (he has a friend…), and you can get really good cars
if you are careful. These would be great
ones! I was really glad to see them go
(in spite of feeling like a failure for not selling them). I have mentioned that parking is GOLD here, and
when I have extra cars I spend time every week moving them around for street
sweeping (Monday – right side, Wednesday – left side) so as to leave the 11
spots in the church parking lot for church-goers. In addition, I had one car that got hit by a
hit & run driver, and cost $1100 extra to prep for sale. We are so thankful to have a safe, private
parking space for our car, so it doesn’t get beat to pieces while parked. (People often use the ‘touch method’ of
parallel parking…)
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| Five cars going to auction |
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| This is a NY commuter car after a few years. Note the one in the background with the "Bumper Buddy" protector. You see a lot of those! |
As Diane has mentioned many times, one of the best parts of
serving a senior mission is watching the elders and sisters work and relate to
each other! For most, this is their first experience of feeling the ‘mantle’ of
a significant priesthood calling on their shoulders, and it’s wonderful to see
them learn to magnify the calling! Some
do it from the beginning, with most it takes a little longer, and of course a
few never really do. (But the last are a
very small minority.) They like being
together with just missionaries because they don’t have to be ‘on’, and can act
their age. It’s sometimes jarring to us
to see them act like teenagers, and we enjoy seeing the missionary personas
better because we know that’s a glimpse of what they can become if they stay on
the right path! I remember very well the
challenge of having to be ‘on’ with the members when I was a 30 year old bishop,
and it’s the same for them. (And a precursor of their whole lives if they
follow the gospel plan of growth.) We love the missionaries! (And my wife still does a lot better job of
showing it than I do.) I know this is
the Lord’s work! There is no doubt in my
mind!
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