Thursday, January 1, 2009

The One With the Stupid Missionary Tricks

My mission- aries are the best. They work hard. People call them names, spit on them, mock them and lie to them. In response to that, they just smile, shake hands, and do their best to share a message about Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. Many times as I go about doing laundry or straightening upstairs (okay, fine...shoving the protruding dirty laundry back into the laundry room so that I can close the door), I hear them in their room, doing their planning, and occasionally I even happen to hear their prayers. They kneel together and they pray for all the people they are teaching. They are so obedient and hard-working, that it is easy to forget that they are only 20-year-old boys. Most of the time. Until they decide to engage in Stupid Missionary Tricks. You know... like burning things to celebrate the one-year mark. Saran-wrapping a whole car. Oh wait... I actually did that one. Anyway, last night for New Year's Eve they took it into their heads to have a maple syrup-chugging contest. Each of them drank most of a bottle of generic "pancake syrup" that didn't even have a hint of genuine maple flavoring. They felt so sick that they weren't even able to enjoy the New Year's Eve spread I had prepared. They came downstairs later to play a board game with us and Skippy managed to swipe Elder H's water bottle and spike it with a little maple syrup. I have never seen anyone run so fast to the sink to spit. They did bring that on themselves...I told them all day not to drink maple syrup.

But, you know what? Today they are back to work. No syrup hangover or anything. I, on the other hand, stayed in my pajamas all day. Maybe they had it right: Cut loose once a year and go on a diabetic spree. Then get back to work. So...virgin maple daiquiris, anyone?

9 comments:

Stefany said...

Where is the youtube video of this special event?

RSM Text Factor Gurus said...

Also, you have so much time in your pj's.....why don't you post some more or find me on FB. I have hijacked someone's internet here in Big Bear......yahoo!

Victoria said...

Haha...they DID take a video of it. I just refuse to watch it. So it probably won't be up on YouTube anytime soon:)

RSM Text Factor Gurus said...

watching it on YouTube would make me barf. I think you should snag a copy of it, though. You never know when you may need it!

i can't stop singing foreigner songs

Anonymous said...

I think it is interesting how Skippy needs so little encouragement for mischief. Quite creative that one.

Della Hill said...

One word:
Eaauugh.
(Shudder)
Gotta love the missionaries though.
What a blessing to have them in your home.
-Della

Fawn said...

You are missing your calling in life Victoria! You are like the next Erma Bombeck I've been waiting for these past few years!! Publish lady, publish! Love the blog--never fails to make me laugh. So sorry about the snowstorm--what a memory!

RSM Text Factor Gurus said...

I feel like I've been hit my an iceberg. ROSE! JACK! I LOVE YOU.

Victoria said...

Gardenweasel, I have no idea what that means. But I love it.

So this one time we went to Disneyland with passes that were good just through the Christmas season. We wanted our money's worth, so we went so many times that December that the kids cried whenever they saw a stroller, and begged and pleaded..."PLEASE don't make us go to Disneyland again..." So one night we went for the sole purpose of seeing the Christmas parade. Usually we were gone before it began. But this time we arrived at the park at 7:00 p.m. to get a good spot for the 9:00 parade. It was Southern California cold... like maybe high 50s. After two hours of sitting on the cold sidewalk followed by a 20-minute character "EXTRAVAGANZO," we unfolded our stiff limbs and hobbled toward the park entrance to go home. Josh, who was about eight years old, looked around at all the cold, dreary wall-to-wall people heading out, then looked up at me, and said, "Mom, isn't this just like in that Titanic movie, where all the people were so cold and dying?" AWESOME!!!