Monte Resegone

So, I have wanted for a while to record some stories from my mission, and I figure this is as good a place as any. First, I will write about an experience I had after I had been in Italy for about 5 months.

I was a junior companion and still fairly unsure of myself. We had decided, as a zone activity, to hike to the peak of Mount Resegone. We took the public transit to the funivia, then rode up and started to hike. We had gone a fair ways in beautiful scenery when we noticed the time and decided that we needed to make a decision. We had come a long ways and were on the other side of the mountain. We could either go forward - the path curved around the peak and looked like it would take us right back where we started - or we could go back the way we came. The zone leader (Joe Holst - a great and pleasant person) suggested we pray about it as a zone and see what impressions came.

We prayed, and I had a distinct impression - as clear as someone speaking into my ear - that said "go back the way you came." But, since I was one of the youngest missionaries there, and still a lowly junior companion, I didn't speak up. Surely, I thought, the zone leader or one of the district leaders would receive the answer we needed. Finally, someone said, "I guess let's just keep going." I figured maybe I had been mistaken, and we hiked on.

After a long while it was clear that the path was not going to take us back to where we had started anytime soon. What had looked like a path curving around the peak really just took us into an inlet, which then began climbing on a winding path taking us to the peak. At times we were on the face of a cliff which was so steep there were chains anchored for us to hold on to. Eventually, we reached the top of the mountain which afforded us a great view, as well as a relatively short path back down; however, it was late enough that we were worried we may not catch the last funivia down the mountain.

We made it in time, but arrived home very late - much past our usual curfew. I guess you could say that it didn't matter because we made it home either way, but to me this was a great lesson: just because you may not be in a position of leadership, doesn't mean you can't be the one who makes a difference. You may be the only person in the group who has a thought or an impression that could make a huge difference in the life of another person. You may have an impulse to perform an act of service which only you are inspired to do, or which only you are in a position to fulfill. The Lord works through small and simple means, but I know he doesn't consider any of his children "small and simple" - whether the servant or the one being served, we are all important enough to do great things.

That's all.

Toothpaste

I have recently changed my toothpaste habits. I decided to try the baking soda-peroxide route, even though I was expecting it to taste terrible. I mixed the ingredients myself like a professional apothecary in the old days, minus the mortar and pestle. Well, after a few days, I've decided I like it. It gets my teeth really clean, I think it improves my breath, and it doesn't taste nearly as bad as I'd expected. I also have a theory that it will whiten my teeth slightly.

In other news, I expect a few posts in the next few days about nothing in particular. I'm trying to write more and I have a backlog of topics. So, for those of you reading, I hope you enjoy my renewed activity in the blog-o-web.

Mosqui-toes

When I was on my mission, I noticed that mosquitoes generally really liked my feet. I don't know if it was just the fact that they had been in shoes all day (my feet, not the bugs), but once we got home in the summer and opened the windows my feet would get bitten all to bits. The bites didn't itch too badly though, which I guess might be to some regional difference in mosquitoes (?).

I guess the reason I brought this up is because two nights ago, while we were in my in-laws' backyard roasting marshmallows, I was bit several times. This was remarkably like what happened on my mission, except that I was on a different continent. Plus, there was no window, and I hadn't been in shoes at all, and the bites really itch. I counted sixteen bites on my feet (plus a lumpy thing on my left elbow which may or may not be a bite), all of which seem to be composed of minuscule angry badgers trying to claw their way out. I felt sorry for them so I tried to feed them some topical benadryl today, followed tonight by some dermoplast. They must be happier now because the bites don't hurt so much. I feel like such a friend to nature on so many levels.

Poem 3

This poem I am embarrassed to post, mostly because I was trying to be serious with it so it feels like more of a risk exposing others to it. Also, it is in mixed meter and doesn't rhyme so I don't like it that much, but it shows a little of my feelings toward my then-betrothed. I wrote this at BYU when Alison and I were engaged. No mocking, please. :)

I saw two lovers on the grass,
And I watched them as they gazed
Into each other's eyes. A sigh
Escaped them, a breath of contentedness
That betrayed their hearts
Even as they said nothing.

I felt inside my own heart
A longing to see you, to share with you
That same communication, to see
A light, a spark that lives
Because of a fire that burns
Somewhere inside of you.

The two - the one - never saw
My eyes and my envy, oblivious to all
Except their own gaze and their own hearts.
I walked away, my eyes upon new things
Other things
But my heart alone with you, upon the grass.

Poem 2

Here is another poem I wrote at BYU. This was before I had taken anatomy, but I was curious about my body so I looked up some things on the internet and can only say that I was inspired. Now that I have a more thorough medical background, I am pleasantly surprised by how few errors there are in my information.

Anyway, it's entitled

An Ode, "To The Lymphatic System"

You take away the over-fill,
The fluid that remains;
You circulate my tissues through
And permeate my veins.

You filter out the nasty bugs
Like skeeters in a net -
In one and twenty years of life
I've not been beaten yet!

I owe my very life to you
Although I didn't know,
And hope that one day yet to come
My gratitude will show.

I'll exercise and sleep at night,
Eat only balanced food -
You can count on me, L.S.,
I'll keep you running smooth! (ly)

I only hope that when I wake
My worst dream won't come true -
My body new, my glory bright,
But perfect without you!

Poem 1

Here is a poem I wrote at BYU after I saw a Discovery Channel special on repo men.

The Repo Man! The Repo Man!
When debtors go astray
He breaks into their cars at night,
And though the debtors want to fight
Though legally they have no right,
He repossesses with delight
And goes his merry way.

The Repo Man! The Repo Man!
To earn his meager pay
He exercises skills galore;
He picks the locks and cracks the door.
He was a criminal before,
Now it's a job and nothing more -
An honest man today.

Felicity

The other day, when I was home alone at lunchtime, I decided to eat ramen noodles for lunch. Despite the negative correlation between time passing and my enjoyment of that particular food, I persist in occasionally using it as a quick fix. Anyway, all we had was a package of beef and a package of chicken. Since I eat two packages, I had resigned myself to eating Asian Style Noodles with Powdered Chickencow Sauce. Imagine my astonishment when I opened the chicken package to find that someone at the Asian Style Noodles factory had accidentally included two seasoning packets! If it were a network status, it would have been Packets Sent:0, Packets Received:3. Needless to say, my noodles were better than expected. I haven't decided if that really means much.