Another Short Story

Lately I have been Crazy Busy at work and haven't had any time to update my blog. After continual harassment by the now 5 people who read my blog I have decided to do a quick update today, and a more detailed update when I have time. Sorry if its rough I have a 12:00 deadline to meet.

Well since it is Sunday I thought it would be appropriate to share a special spiritual message with you and speak of things that will make you feel warm and tingly inside.

Here is a special spiritual rendering to help set the mood.

The idea of sharing this story came to me on Thursday when we went to the airport to pick up my younger brother Rusty. He was flying home from Louisiana after serving a full time mission.

Well first of all before sharing my spiritual experience. I have to include a small experience from the airport. In my family we like to play tricks on each other or try to embarrass our siblings or parents so Tyler gave me the idea to hide behind the corner and jump out and scare Rusty when he came walking out, so Aiden and I hid around the corner and watched for him in the reflection of the glass. After a long wait and a few weired looks, we got the signal from my Dad that Rusty was on his way. When he neared we jumped out and yelled as loud as we could to startle him "Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa". Grabbing him and pushing him away from the other returning Missionaries.

This is Me and Aiden running in for the scare.

I thought it was a very good Idea. It was delivered with the most precise timing and intensity, our plan however perfect it may have been was a complete and utter failure. When we jumped out Rusty didn't even flinch, he kept walking as if though we were not even there, and gave me a look as if to say "Get away from me you A-hole" Whoa, sorry about the profanity, don't blame me Rusty is the one who thought it not me!


After the scare attack, notice how Rut seems to not even notice me.






Aiden finally got Rut to show some love.

Now I know that I typically do not share experiences of the spiritual nature, and I am not a touchy feely kind of guy, but today I am going to make an exception. I hope I can get through this, but please bear with me if you hear my voice crack or have to wait for me to regain composure.

This particular story comes from my own personal mission. Many of you probably don't know that I served a mission in Honduras, yes that's a country, its located in central America and they speak Spanish. Here are a few typical pics to give you an idea of what its like there.



This is me standing on a hill overlooking the capital Tegucigalpa.



This is Me posing in front of one of their awesome garbage trucks. Notice that the garbage is stacked so high it nearly hits the power lines.


Ever wonder where all of our old beat up school buses go after they die? Well they go to Honduras and are used for public transportation. This one got a paint job, most are still yellow and have the original school name and district on the side. We once saw one from Salt Lake.

Me carrying a box. The lady in front of me is selling fruit from a basket balanced on her head.

Okay now that you have seen pretty much all there is to see from my mission I will continue with the story.

I will call this story:

"THE DOG THAT FELT THE SPIRIT"

When I had been in the mission for about 9 months I was in an area called the Kennedy with my favorite mission companion and dear friend Elder Gamble pictured below.

This is me and Gamble with a convert named Nelson, after seeing this pic Gamble was very upset because Nelson put his hand on my thigh and not on his. I don't like to talk about the mission to Gamble because he is still mad about it.


Here is Gamble being harassed by a drunk who was obsessed with him. He (the drunk) kept yelling "Gracias a Jeovah" while trying to hug Gamble. Notice how the drunkard is pulling Gambles head in for a kiss. Fortunately Gamble has a very strong neck and was able to avoid a nasty drunkman smooch.

Elder Gamble and I had been teaching a young college student named Marvin. Marvin had recently undergone Testicular surgery and was always home so we were always able to teach him weather he liked it or not. For those of you who dont know what "Testicular Surgery" is, it means that he had to have his Junk operated on. Marvin lived with his mother, and their Dog. Marvins mother also happened to be slightly insane. We would often teach both or if Marvin wasn't feeling good we would teach his Mom alone.

Marvins mother was very sweet, she owned a candy stand and would give us a treat from her stand whenever we visited. She was always kind and let us in her home no matter when or what was going on. She also had a really cool old fashioned phone that we were planning on somehow acquiring.
One day Gamble and I were out on the streets doing our missionary thing. After all of our appointments and plans fell through and several people hid from us in plain sight, we decided to visit our faithful investigators Marvin, and his Mom.

We approached the house and knocked on the gate, most houses in this area had an enclosed porch surrounded by a gate or walls like the one pictured below. So rather that knocking on the door one would tap on the metal gate with something hard to get the attention of the occupants.



When we tapped on the gate Marvins dog ran out of the opened door on to the porch and started barking like crazy, he wouldn't shut up, the barking was echoing off the porch roof and into the house. In the house we could hear Mavin's sweet old Mom talking on the phone to someone so we waited.
This is an actual picture of the offending dog.

As we waited the barking got louder and louder and the dog got madder and madder. I thought it was going to break down the gate and attack Gamble, (I say "attack Gamble" because I would have used him as a human shield to protect myself from the dog.) Just when we didn't think the commotion could get any worse all of the sudden Mavin's mom said "HOLD ON" to the person she was speaking with and sat the phone down. "Sweet" I thought, she is going to let us in. When she came out she was not her typical happy self she looked at us and I swear her eyes were red, she then looked at the dog and then stomped on it as hard as she could putting all of her 92 pounds of weight on it, she then violently kicked it about five times, and proceeded to beat the dog over and over. The angry barks were replaced with yelps of pain, as the dog tried to escape the clutches of its lunatic master she gave it one final swift kick to the hind end as it yelped and ran away. The poor dog was so confused and freightened that it ran right into the edge of the doorway before finally making its way into the house.

Once the dog finally escaped near death a very silent, and awkward moment then followed. "Um......Buenas Tardes" I said to break the awkward silence, the old lady then looked at us in disgust turned away and slammed the door as hard as she could right in our faces. We stood there for about 32.5 seconds in complete silence trying to fathom what had just happened, then we both broke out in uncontrollable laughter and left.

We lost a good investigator that day, and an even better source of free candy, but the experience made it all worth it. I will never forget this special experience for the rest of my life. We never saw Marvin or his lunatic mom ever again, and we all lived happily ever after.

The End

Please feel free to use this spiritual experience in any sacrenment talk or sunday school lesson that you may be giving in the future.