My First Tracting

Okay, so yesterday was a pretty awesome day. About 4:15, I met with the missionaries to do a "blitz" (there were eight of us, two to a road, four roads in two hours). So, six of us packed into one car and drove to the area we had chosen, and me and my companion were dropped off at the first street. Well, the first two or three houses were completely empty. Around the fourth house, we got our first answer. But, outside of this houses doorway was a little fake pond thing, that was a breeding ground for mosquitoes, do we're trying to introduce ourselves while slapping the little buggers off us. Not very effective, though comical.

The first house that I gave the approach at was answered by an "Anti" as some of the apologetics blogs I read call them. We went a couple more houses down, and at one we started to intruded ourselves, and this little old lady came to the front door, saw us, and immediately locked and deadbolted the door shut and shooed us away. We came to one house were a lady said we should come back around the same time tomorrow, so hopefully the missionaries follow up on that- she seemed genuinely interested, not fake interested like the lady who told us to come by Saturday. We tracted into one guy who really liked the Mormons, but was too much into his religion. He said he had been to temple square and really enjoyed it. We gave him a passalong, and he probably won't call, but it might be nice for him to have.

We put passalongs in places where gate prevent us from going to the front door. The next memorable one was at the cul-de-sac, where we tracted into a really nice man, who told us we shouldn't start teaching him because we'd just end up arguing, but he gave us water and said that, if we could do this, then we'd go far in life. He took a passalong for the Book of Mormon, and seemed like a genuine enough truth seeker. A couple houses down, we tracted into a guy who was hosting the dinner for his church, so he basically said, "If I'm hosting this, then you're not about to get to me right now."

After him it was time to head back, so we went back to the head of the street, and since we had a few minutes to kill, we tracted the other side, about five houses. The fifth house we tracted into a Four Square Christian (which when I first heard, I thought of my elementary school days) who asked us a bunch of questions, such as who was our prophet, did we believe Christ was resurrected, etc. She seemed to have Priesthood Power and the Holy Spirit mixed up though. She invited us to her church where their "prophets" were having a weekend retreat type of thing. After that, the four other missionaries with our car came back, so we squeezed in and drove back to the church.

So that was my experience... My first approach was to an anti. But I never felt awkward or bad, and it was definitely worth it to see the intrigue on the truth seekers faces, scarce as they were. I cannot wait till I get to do that full-time.

True Story

So, when I was younger, we used to visit this beach every summer. I mean, every summer, we'd go to the beach for three days, spend two days at grandma Mississippi’s house. The beach was called "Crystal Beach" and it was a pretty good beach, I must admit, especially for me being six years old, then seven, then eight then nine then ten, etc. We stopped going there when I was ten actually, so take out that "etc." I don't remember the earliest I went there... maybe three years old? You wouldn't really know, so forget I asked the question.

Well, this beach was pretty sweet, as I said, and our entire family would just play on it, and there was this restaurant called Ruby Tuesday's we always ate it. It was gross. Speaking of restaurant, some famous thrill horror writer who died recently always called them "diners" because he couldn't spell restaurant. That's really sad, unless he was referring to Ruby Tuesday's, because he would have been better off calling them "poo-houses" as that name is more apt.

Well, there were also casinos near the beach, some ON THE WATER which I thought was cool (as a seven, eight and nine year old only) to gamble on the Gulf of Mexico. I'd gamble on stupid stuff like how many seagulls would pass by and not poo on us. If we were at Ruby Tuesdays, I would have bet on zero, as that is their primary source of entrees. Ruby Tuesday's is in fact an anagram for seagull poo. Figure that one out.

So, Crystal beach was an alright place, but like I said, we'd always visit grandma afterwards. Now my grandma is blindingly Baptist, and or family being Mormon as it was, we often had awkward situations, i.e. going to my grandma's church and wondering where the sunbeams met. Only Mormons will get that reference. What if we opened up a Mormon restaurant with Mormon themed dishes? That might be pretty cool, but the demographic is of course limited.

But, Grandma's house was sweet because she had Chinese checkers and real checkers. I never learned how to play Chinese checkers, but I’d have fun beating my brother, as he also did not know how to play. Then there were about five thousand naked ken and Barbie dolls from my older sister and younger cousins- that was weird for my brother and me. I'll stick to Mousetrap.

That was a sweet game. You'd set it all up and then you'd pretend to try and start really playing it, but then you'd set the thing off just to watch it go. Then you'd lose a piece and never use it again. If you could have sold replacement parts to mousetrap, you'd have been rich. Another sweet game? Snakes and Ladders, which is currently being adapted into a film with Samuel L. Jackson- "Snakes on a Ladder." Featuring SLJ as Jackson Gruff, a CIA agent assigned to help an old man under the witness protection program. Everything goes smoothly till a light bulb burns out. The old man goes to fix it with his eighteen footer, and by the fifth step it becomes obvious some terrorist has unleashed a multitude of serpents upon this helpless old man and his ladder. Will the old man make it? Will this movie become an internet cult hit? We many never know.

If you read all this, you get five stars.

The Great RPS Debate

Rock Paper Scissors. Rochambeau. Shoot. Pumps. Throw.

All these are common language among those who play rock, paper, scissors, but it has become glaringly obvious that some people are in confusion as to the procedure with which you must play. There are two vastly supported ideas: the "one two shoot," and the "one two three, shoot," referring to the number of "pumps" or fists up and down before you throw (i.e. display rock, paper or scissors).

Rock Paper Scissors shoot. That is how I play, and according the relkjwtoijrgoinhergoijhreg United States of America Rock Paper Scissors League (http://www.usarps.com) how you should play- three pumps and then you shoot. I watched the championships on ESPN2 for this very league, and they followed the rules exactly. It is, in my opinion, the best because it is all inclusive- whether chanting "rock paper scissors" or "rochambeau" before you shoot, you do not fall into the pit of "rock...Paper...Shoot" thus totally leaving out the scissor. The same goes for "Ro-cham-shoot" leaving out the crucial "beau" that completes the word.

All "one two shoot" has is efficiency, or rather quickness. It is a viable option in many tournaments, however, it is wrong and stupid. Can you "OTS-ers" only count to two? Three is not that far from two, nor is it difficult to say. The quickness of this style ruins all the finesse and subtlety of the game, and you ruin a game which may or may not date back thousands of years.

If you disagree with me, you're wrong. I'm going to say that to get it cleared right away.

Business

I've been pretty busy. Finishing out my Duty to God, trying to convince my dad to get me the laptop i want for college, trying out this L-Glutamine stuff for excercise help, cleaning up my room to get ready for college, helping plan the True Blue podcast(http://trueblue.ppedepot.com/), helping brainstorm for a teenage version of "The Office," and trying to get in shape before college viz weightlifting, running, swimming and ultimate.

I will, however, try and post more. I promise. I'll write a bit post sometime soon on Kirtland/Palmyra and all the wonder that happened there for me.

Soon.

Just an Update

Nothing going on.

Looking for advice

Does anyone know of a good protein powder out there?

One that's fairly good tasting, easy to make and will in fact help me?

I've been really busy lately.