Thursday, May 13, 2010

Zombies and Missionaries in Shorts



Date: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 9:11:18 PM
Subject: Cutoffs

I finally made a pair of cutoffs out of one of my pairs of jeans. I am pretty sure the packet we got said not to wear shorts, but I guess it's just too hot here or something. So now I have shorts.

I can't think of much to say. I just talked to you on the phone! It was so great. But now the news is all gone.

I found a phrase I had written down. The cheese is a little more binding. Is that a real saying? What on earth does it mean?

We have a funny investigator named Ernest. He has very good English and is really very smart. He is afraid to tell his parents that he is Christian, and has wanted to join the Catholic church. Last time we met with him I asked him is he still wanted to become a Catholic. He said yes. I asked him if he believed the things we had taught him. He said yes. I asked if he had prayed about them to know if they were true. He said he had, and he felt they were all true. So then I asked him why he wanted to join the Catholic church. He didn't know. I asked him if it was because of the influence his friends and teachers had. He said probably. I encouraged him to pray and try to find the truth for himself. Friends and teachers ultimately can't show him the truth, and neither can missionaries. We must all find out for ourselves. Well, he called yesterday to say he wants to be baptized. Yay! There is still the problem of him being 15 and unwilling to even let his family know he is meeting with missionaries, let alone ask them to sign a permission form. But everyone has their own trails to overcome.

There is a new Cantonese speaking Elder that I want on 24 hour exchanges with the other day. His name is Elder Merrill and he is very very smart. His father teaches religion at BYU. He already speaks French, Russian, Hebrew and Arabic. At least. It was so fun to talk to him because he just knows so much! I miss talking to people who really know a lot about a lot of things. I had to stop him twice to define words for me. He spoke like a BYU Professor. It was really fun.

When I was reading Jacob 5 the other day I had a thought. In that parable the world is likened unto a vineyard. The lord of the vineyard is God. I don't remember who said that we are all Gods in Embryo. So what are our gardens but practice for later on? We have to cultivate and keep clean and organized and efficient our gardens, our houses, our bedrooms, our workrooms, our desks, our closet, our car, all these little worlds that we are in control of and we make the decisions for. I run my desk (and, basically, my life) in a very unorganized, rather chaotic way. Why would that change later without my making the decision and putting forth the effort to change it? What is the difference between a desk and a world? Obviously, a lot. But the way we run things is, probably, usually, the same for different things.
So I am once again making an effort to organize my life.

Someone is watching a zombie movie in Mandarin, and it is just a little distracting.

Love you.

-Noah

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