Thursday, January 1, 2015

Don't eat the prophet

Wonderful thing for weds. Dec 31: Eating crow, as it were. I have been too quick to judge, and am so happy to be brought up short. We have been meeting one on one with our young adults, and having some wonderful experiences along the way. There is a young man in the ward who is not a member; his parents have always been members but just in the last year have been coming regularly, and his little sister has been baptized. I saw some behaviors, I sized them up based on my personal paradigm, and I said, figuratively, in my mind, to this young man, "This is who you are." Over the last several weeks, this convenient little niche has been sagging, and is now crumbling - especially since our conversation with him yesterday. Actually, the night before, I had begun to see him in quite a different light, watching him take the lead on an issue for which he is part of a committee. He was focused, saw clearly, and took responsibility, even though he was the youngest person and not a member of the church, even. Then, as we spoke with him yesterday, we were pleased at his openness and honesty, his willingness to consider our questions and suggestions. I am not sure why he has not yet agreed to be baptized (he hinted it may be soon), but I no longer doubt his motives or his sincerity. One of my priesthood leaders once told me, at the commencement of my mission, that I would be the one who would benefit most from my service in the mission field. It's becoming just as apparent the second time around. Fun thing: we brought in the new year with some of the members of the Prato Ward, who got together at the church. We thought it would be finger foods - nuh uh. The full treatment, commencing around 9:30 in the evening: antipasti of all kinds, then three or four kinds of pasta, then meat, potatoes, etc....the goodies were reserved for midnight, but we snuck out in the midst of the kissing and hugging (that's one fun thing I just thought of, seeing Blaine do the peck-on-the-cheek thing with sisters and brothers alike!). There was a game during the evening called, either "Don't Eat the Prophet" or "Dont Touch the Prophet". I heard both. It was mostly for the kids. There were twelve plastic cups inverted on the table, each with a candy inside, each numbered. A child would leave the room, everyone else would choose a cup, and when he came back in, he would pick up a random cup and eat the candy. The object was to eat - or put in your pocket - as many candies as possible without picking up the designated "prophet", at which time everyone would holler, "Don't eat/touch the prophet!" and it would be someone else's turn. A hoot, if a little obscure in the reference to prophets!

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