Feeding The Elders...

If I said that our family fed dinner to a pair of elders, anywhere else in the country, you might think we had served meals to a couple of nursing home residents. But if I say that same thing where we live, everyone knows exactly what I mean. No, we didn't feed a pair of elderly individuals dinner--they weren't elderly at all. In fact, the two were relatively young, under twenty-years old.

Feeding the LDS missionaries is something we members do a lot. Of course, not all missionaries are as lucky (and well-fed...) as others. Case in point, I did the mission thing in the mid-80s. Where I served, there were not mormons in ninety percent of the homes, nor were there mormon churches on every other corner. No, I served in Europe, Denmark specifically, and there's about five times more mormons in the small-ish community where I live now than are in the entire country of Denmark.

Members in America are the same as members all over the world--they want to help the missionaries any way they can, including them having them over for dinner. But, fewer members means fewer opportunities to feed the missionaries. In Denmark had several opportunities to break bread with Danish mormons, but I'm pretty sure the two missionaries we had over will eat at members homes more this month alone than I did in the entire two years I lived among the Danes.

I hope it doesn't sound like I'm complaining, because I don't mean to. I had some amazing experiences, and--on the plus side, I got to learn how to prepare food for myself--something that came in handy in college.

The missionaries were great company, and they enjoyed the dinner my wife and family prepared. We snapped a couple of pictures so we could send them back to their parents. It's something members in California did for our own son many times, and each time they did, we were extremely appreciative. 

Feeding the missionaries is a rare occurrence for us. There's so many members that we get to have them over once ever half decade or so. That's okay--that way everyone gets to help out. So, if you're ever wondering what it's like to have missionaries over for dinner, if they come knocking, just invite them back for dinner. I'll bet they'll take you up on your offer.

Right Place...Right Time

Yesterday I had a fifteen minute wait for the train to take me out of the city.

So, what did I do?

I took out my camera and snapped a video.

I saw the northbound train pull in and I've really enjoyed utilizing my iPhone's camera features. One I especially like is the one I used yesterday--the Time Lapse feature. I positioned myself against the wall of a shelter on the platform and began filming as the train pulled up.

I expected to get people scurrying about on their way to work or pleasure, their actions sped up to give the illusion of chaos. What I didn't expect to happen is to film about twenty LDS missionaries step off the train and form an assemblage of people and luggage.

As I filmed, I watched the mostly teenagers get organized, make sure everyone was accounted for, then haul all the earthly belongings they'll have for the next eighteen to twenty-four months and make their way to the Green Line. Soon they'd be waiting in more lines and finally sitting in a big plane to transport them to all places north, south, east, and west.

I was excited to see the result and I was happy with how it turned out. So much so, I had to send it out on various social media sites. Of course, had I a tripod to stabilize the shot, it would be cleaner, especially when that guy walked within inches of my phone. But that's a small thing. I captured life--though sped up--as it existed on a train platform on an August morning in Salt Lake City. As it turned out, I was in the right place, at the right time.

A Good Deed Story Cutting Through All the Crap...

I was looking for something to write about today. A search on various social media sites did not yield good fruit.

Unless, of course, you love reading pro/anti Trump, pro/anti Bernie posts. I really don't want to dwell on election news. It is important, but politics should be discussed civilly, and I'm not seeing a lot of civility out there right now.

Since election posts and coverage isn't the most positive influence in our lives, I wanted to find something that gave a positive story, something that might make you loyal readers feel better about mankind.

I found one.

My friend Geoff lives in the midwest so I don't see him very often, but thanks to social media, I can check in on him occasionally and see how he's doing. He introduced us to a gentleman named Todd, a hair stylist who agreed to do something nice for ten Mormon missionaries. While he did their hair they talked and got to know each other better. Todd does not share their faith, but for nine hours yesterday, that didn't matter. When we break life down to its most basic properties, we're all the same. We place differences between each other for many different reasons. Thanks Todd for being an example of selfless service and thanks Geoff for sharing!