Sunday, February 19, 2012

Solid Defense: Grass Forts, Guns, and More


I always find trouble trying to start these posts . . . but I guess the best way to get better at writing is to keep at it!  It seems again that the only connections I can make for this blog are those which relate to my faith . . . but that is fine with me as I feel it creates a solid theme for my posts.  But, before I get into any of that I have adventures to share.

Much like Calvin, my parents found ample opportunities for me to build character as I grew up; today I speak specifically of digging trenches.

Don’t misunderstand, not those kinds of trenches in the pictures, we never had any WWI or anything like that in Fort Collins where I grew up.  The trouble we had was with pirates, castles, and wild animals, specifically cheetahs.  Don’t believe me?  The internet never lies: American Cheetahs.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

My Not Leading


E. McMullin on far left, next to me

I loved meeting the new referral center missionaries!  At the beginning I was not as grateful for every missionary who came to join us, but that was later remedied.  One missionary I remember in particular was Elder McMullin.  He joined the referral center just shortly after I did.  I of course knew just about everything there was to know being in the referral center a whole two weeks earlier.   If Elder McMullin was anything like the rest of us, he was not too thrilled about joining, and probably wasn’t really sure what he was getting into.  While I now see I should have been full of gratitude for every missionary who came to help, to use a metaphor, at the time I was a little more focused on the paint of the ship.  What I mean is that I was concerned about how one might see us rather than what was actually happening.  Similar to the other missionaries at the time, we met Elder McMullin at the front desk.

Elder McMullin liked doing things his way, and liked having freedom and independence.  I remember my first sentence being something like “hello,” and “we don’t roll our sleeves up here.”  Now, as I think of it, I am very surprised he did unroll his sleeves.  Although it did not last long.  If I was him I think I would have sat on me.  Thinking back at it now, I see it was not my best leadership; in fact, it was not leading at all.  Rather, it was a way to show what a prick I was and annoy what turned out to be a great blessing for our mission.  Every missionary we had was a valuable contribution and helped to make the referral center what it was.  I know God played a special hand and we saw great miracles with every missionary who came to join us.
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