This week marks the 1 year mark from when my son left for his mission. I have seen him once in real life when I stocked him right before he departed to Chile, twice on skype at Christmas and Mother's Day, and a letter every week for 52 weeks. It does not feel like he has been gone that long but my heart knows it. I gave a Sharing Time in Primary this last Sunday and it was on Missionaries. I could barely get through the lesson I was trying to teach and every song I sing in church makes me cry, and every time I look at his picture on my counter I tear up. So yeah, I think my body and soul knows it has been a long time but thankfully the mind can linger on the happy moments and know that I will see him again! Maybe that is something like what the Savior is teaching us. We can go back and live with our Father in Heaven again. We just have to be true and faithful and our time will come. Maybe that is what makes this separation such a poignant one. I miss my Father in Heaven as much as I miss my son.
Yeah, I may have forgotten my camera.
Whatever.
So, here I am. With the somewhat young Elder Burk. From Arizona. This last week has been ridiculous. First, we went around and Elder Myres said goodbye to everyone. The next day I went to the temple after 10 months of not going there - sort of a lot, I think. It was a great time to reflect about the mission so far. Just about exactly half. I technically complete a year the eighth, which is thursday.
You know, it didn't seem like I've done that much. I understand always, and I know the lessons, and I know how to teach them. I get how to write in the area book, and eat properly, and all that kind of thing. The thing is that it feels as if I've not really done that much for people. It could be that I've been in seeding and tilling sectors while others have been doing the harvesting. I don't know.
Elder Burk is a very dedicated missionary. He just wants to work and baptize people. We have a very minor personality clash, but we work well together, especially once we are actually teaching. He's very outgoing and does contacts automatically, even when the situation is somewhat unfavorable. (I don't want to dampen his enthusiasm, but interrupting people while they talk to each other to contact them just makes them angry - or let us say that they have a hard time seeing us as representatives of Christ.)
We get more study time so we can practice and figure out all these things. I think it'll be okay.
I don't know if Dad has any experiences about this - it's very difficult to get to know Elder Burk because he won't talk about anything but missionary work. He may answer a direct question, but then a few sentences later he'll be talking about how the Gospel is so amazing or how the solution to world hunger is tithing, etc. I find myself in a similar position to when I was with Trent at Wyview. I wanted to just be a person and I couldn't. It says in DC 4 that you have to have your gaze only put on the glory of God, or something like that - so where should I be here?
It's very good that he does want to work and has no obedience or homesickness problems. He's the eleventh of sixteen brothers and sisters (luckily there's a law-only relationship between the first and second eight). He's only worked a little and gone to BYU Idaho in terms of education. He's a choir person, which is cool. And he plays the viola, but he says "not well enough to bring it on the mission." His parents are somewhat older people, and it is noticeable in his personality - he's disciplined, but kind of odd.
Let's change gears. You know what I liked to sing? It wasn't ever the simple ones. It was always the ones that were kind of "adulty." I remember we sang a few hymns, and I liked those more than the others. Also, A Child's Prayer and those kind of more serious even if a little childish ones actually called my attention to the words. The doofy ones not so much. I thought harmony anything was cool, even if I pretended to think it was dumb for my classmates. Treat them older than they are and they'll act it.
Can someone ask Kelsey what is Family Processes? I'm weirded out by that.
I'm going to buy an Mp3 player thing from Chilean Walmart today - so I'm going to be doing a lot of asking you to email me things. Starting now. The cool thing is that I won't ever have to ask for CDs - you can just send them. Not only that, but I can get them from other Elders. So if you get a hold of The Lower Lights or that other one I mentioned earlier and you haven't sent it yet, just rip it and email me it IN MP3 or I won't be able to do anything with it. Please. I think this is the best way I can do it. I wish someone had told me from the beginning.
Someone should make a decent recording of Grandpa's improv riffs. It would be so cool to get a good microphone and and Apple Product and record a whole album full of Crist stuff. We could produce it really well and make album art! Just think about it.
Abrupt ending!
Elder A Conrad Crist
I don't know if you knew but you can find my chapel on lds.org (and riley's too) really easy. Just put in like Villa Brasil of La Cisterna or my bishop's name, Bishop Valdivia. Just in case you're interested in that sort of thing.
To Abby after a short note for him.
Just another school year and I'll be back. No problem.
We did make the cake you sent. The funny thing was there's no frosting in Chile. So we used Dulce de la Leche. Let's just say it was okay. Or really good. Or amazing. The other missionaries went nuts too. It was a fun day.
Make sure Mom and Dad email me stuff and music! and pictures!
Love and stuff,
Elder A Conrad Crist
And to Kato:
Dear Kato
Roof roof grrrr grr roofy roof.
Roof grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr grrr. Roof.
Roof roof,
Elder grrr Crist roof
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