Random Mission Memory

I've been thinking a lot about the mission lately. Could it be because it's been ten years since I was on my mission? Could it be that since I've been on facebook I've been in contact with a couple of people from the mission? Or is it just because I am feeling old because when I go to class I am hanging around guys that got off their mission maybe 3 months ago. I'm thinking the last of them.

Anyway, I thought I could do a little segment where I travel back into either my mind or my journal and dust off some of my old missionary tales, well at least the ones that I think are worth the retelling.

One of the things a missionary does is makes contacts with people. I served in some of the more populated areas and so many people knew who we were and most didn't want to have anything to do with us. So we were always on the look out to make new contacts.

One of my most memorable contacts was on a mini-bus. The thing you have to remember about mini-buses in third-world countries is that they don't care about your safety. Your Safety, Your Problem. So these mini-buses would take off as soon as the last guy's foot left the pavement. Once I just-so-happened to be that last man in the mini-bus. For my own pride I will state that most of the time I was never caught by surprise when the bus took off; although this time I was taken by surprise. When the bus took off my head slammed into one of the edges of the handrails connected to the ceiling, and I fell immediately into a seat. The lady I landed next to looked at me in horror and asked if I was okay. I said "Yea, it's not the first time I've hit my head on one of these buses. Since I'm a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder-day Saints we are consistently getting on these mini-buses...(you get the idea)"

Certainly one of my more impromtu contacts.