Halloween

Ha that is hilarious about the demolition gang in the Sorensen home. I remember chatting with Scott Featherstone and he started saying something like "do you remember just before your house was demolished, a group of rowdy children showed up and shredded the insides. What lack of respect right?"   I was like "oh...ya terrible children......"   ha I’m not sure if he knew that I was leading out that attack with a metal bar that I had found.

I read The Giver twice and actually we were talking about it this week. I’m pretty excited to see that one. Why would people be against that book? It contains some dialogue on sex but not much.  It is about a kid that goes rebellious against a corrupt system and the norm, but in a sense that is everything we believe.  To do what is right over what is common. Alma did it. Noah did it; even and especially Christ. I really enjoyed that book, quick read. I remember talking about the ending with Gram Lois.  About whether he died with the baby or if he really found the village.   I really like those scriptures from D&C 88. 

We had a lesson last night with a guy from South Carolina. I met him a couple of weeks ago and when I told him that my parents had just been in Myrtle Beach he got excited.  In the lesson we talked about the same concept, that our progress completely depends on us, That the blessings and knowledge are waiting on us.  We watched two Mormon messages and the lesson was super strong. He looked me the eyes while we were leaving and said "thanks for coming."    

Do you (parents) think that we knew all about God, and science, and math and a lot of everything before this life and that we are merely re-learning it?  When will the veil fall away. Never? Little by little? After the millennium...?   

We also had a lesson with a youth that is part of an inactive family. He is 19 years old. HIs parents have been inactive for several years and in at the beginning of the year the grandfather got sick so the grandmother (who lives with them) had to stop going to church to take care of him. After that the grandchildren stopped going as well. The son mainly because he got bombarded with "Go on mission" propaganda (which can be very positive) and he just doesn’t have the foundation to make such a large decision so stopped going. I really like the quote that talked about the fact that great people own responsibility for their education.  We talked about how his relationship with God was completely personal and that his decision needed to be his. How children who are forced to play the piano often don’t work to hard at it unless there is some serious enforcement (tiger parents). But if we learn to enjoy or at least desire to learn or do something it brings to birth real progress.  We laughed and joked around with him but he understood the message, so it was a good time.  The mission has been really good for me for this reason. I have had to learn how to be completely responsible for myself; to earn my own testimony, to get myself up on time, and especially to learn just for the sake of learning. Parents often have to take the role of the bad guy with children to teach them the limits and to get them moving along, because if they don’t the children fall into bad things.  But if the child pushes himself, the parent can become a counselor rather than the "dictator" and there is more trust and the parents can become a source of knowledge - which is definitely more fun than the Enforcer.  Thanks for pushing me when I was young.  I am thinking that the aftermath of the mish will be a strong relationship between mis padres y yo. 

My comps are studs. The elder from Cali has a week left but he works super hard.  The other is new and cracks me up.   There must be lots of good people that have prayed for me because I have ended up with the best comps.   

Crazy part of the week - The apartment under ours has a small patio behind the house where two pit-bulls live. The apartment is under construction so the owners don’t live there, they just sometimes pass by. One night they passed by and both dogs jumped up to the window to see them, but as there was only space for one they started shoving to get the spot. They started fighting and we, at our desks planning, heard them at this point because one was whining.  We ran to the window and watch as they went completely crazy. The larger one latched its jaw on the slightly smaller one and whipped it around. I'll spare you the details. The owner finally poked it in the face with a broom stick and he released.  The put a chain on its neck and the other escaped, but was pretty torn up.  We had made brownies but we were all nauseous and couldn’t eat.  The owners are slightly insane and annoying.  Yesterday the dog was outside and barking, annoying so we grabbed a fire cracker that a kid had given us and chucked it down there.   haha  it scared him so bad that flew under a table and hasn’t come out since.