GREAT CONVERSATIONS TODAY

I spent about five hours rehearsing everything I have learned to two different fine people I know through church. I just got off the phone with a good older friend from the mission - Fortaleza, Brasil.

Scott A. was the best missionary in the whole mission. He had been inactive before going deciding to go on the mission and when he came back he did so with a vengeance. So much so, that he was known (at least to me) as "the machine". I could not keep up with him - and I would run the legs off my companions - to the point that I was specifically told by my mission president to slow down for fear of a few of them losing too much weight and becoming ill. Many a weekly letter to the mission President was sent complaining about my over-zealous work habits or off the charts boldness calling people out to repentance. After all, I was not there to soft-peddle the gospel to people - it was about getting down to the brass tacks and saving souls - even if it hurt them a little in the process or wore out my comps' shoes for all the running around. I had one companion that I trained right before I headed home, Elder Smith, who was so on fire that he and I would spend our entire P-day deep diving into the scriptures just to see what we would learn. It was a chore to have to quit so we could do a little shopping and the basics of self-maintenance for the week.

I was that intense as a missionary; and then there was "the machine". Scott could run me into the ground in a heart-beat. The guy was unstoppable - the love of the Lord burned so strongly in him. He would get up earlier than the 6:30am start of day time and lift weights and be dressed by the time I rolled out of bed. He was truly over the top and made a righteous goal to baptize 100 souls in the last few months of his mission and I believe he achieved that goal or came very close to it. I think he is still that same way.

So we had a chance to talk tonight - and I gave him the synopsis of the whole Elenin thing. He seemed respectful (not dismissive, as many are when they hear something that is off the charts like I am presenting to them) and is digesting this. He made a comment in the middle of my two hour long monologue - basically to the effect of, "You have known about this for months now and you are just now telling me four weeks before it happens??". He lives on the West Coast and would take a direct hit from the EQ and the resulting tsunami. I felt badly I had not considered that he should be given an earlier warning. I have one more week where I basically can have the luxury of time telling people the story two hours at a pop - and then I am over in Montana going pedal to the metal for the last three weeks getting the enormous list of things ready.

So - what I am trying to say is this: if you have developed some sense of urgency to this thing (that it will go down, as posted), please do go out on a limb and tell people you care about and give them as much heads up as you can. It may make the difference between them just saying "Why try" because there is too much to do in too short of a time and them feeling the motivation to 'git 'r dun' with what time and resources they have left.

I have many co-workers (not LDS) that are making plans (one guy that I am mentoring as he rotates through our group is renting a 32' RV from Cruise America and loading it with crazy amounts of food and heading to Northern Idaho above 2600' elevation. Another is conveniently planning his vacation with his family back to Vietnam during that time period. Another is planning to take his family to Toronto where he will be blowing the shofar in his synagogue on September 26th which is Rosh Hoshanna - the feast of trumpets where they symbolically herald the coming of the Messiah. The significance of that "coincidence" is not lost on him....

Several families in our ward have already hit the streets (or are heading out) for points east. Many have told me I am full of bull puckey.... Oddly, the ones that have told me that have little or no food storage, most do not have "as much education as possible", most are deeply in debt and living beyond their means, most love sports and spend inordinate amounts of time in front of the tube wasting countless hours in worthless pursuits (what - so you can intelligently talk with your compatriots around the water cooler about some element of yesterday's pre-season game??), most have a 50" television or bigger with dolby surround sound (as much as a two years supply of food for their small family would cost) and the list goes on and on - and I AM THE FREAK and the one who is out of line for basically following what I am asked to do of the Lord through His servants. It will be interesting to see what happens when we cross paths again. I pray for them - but do not hold out much hope - good people; just conditioned by the world to label and ridicule; and then suffer with the worldly......