Mon, Aug 3, 2009

Have I told you about Fritz and Kline? I met them the first time we went running. I was running down the street thinking, “I love running! I love being a missionary! What a beautiful tree! La La La!” When suddenly from across the street I heard a rattling chain and Fritz comes tearing across his yard towards me: “Ruff Ruff Ruff Ruff Ruff Ruff Ruff!” (Ruff’s are barked as eighth notes). Ahhh! I almost fell over. I stopped jogging and decided to walk very carefully while in sight of Fritz—But then suddenly I heard another rattling chain as Kline barreled right up to the chain link fence—the only thing standing in the way of me and the jaws of death: “Ruff Ruff Ruff Ruff Ruff Ruff Ruff!” I started to do some breathing exercises and tried not to make eye contact with them as I passed by the fortress (a simple brick home on a two acre lot) that they guarded so well. So every morning we run past their home and keep running until the end of the street and then we turn around and run past the house of Fritz and Kline again. And every single stinking morning and every single stinking time we run in front of their house the same thing happens: the two German Shepherds come out to bark us out of their sight. You would think that after six weeks they’d lay off a bit, but no. Every morning they come running out with as much furry as they did the first day—they have a lot of pride for where they live and they know their duty. One day I was running back home with Sister Kleisler behind me. We had already been barked out of sight so I was waiting for round two. As I ran in front of their yard I saw Kline (alright. I actually don’t know which dog it was. And I don’t even know their real names, but I personally I believe Fritz and Kline should be their real names) licking and sniffing a cat. He was so distracted that he didn’t see me pass by. I thought it was hilarious and I almost called out, “Stop flirting with your girlfriend!” Of course I didn’t say that because I knew he would eat me. But he must have heard my thoughts because he all the sudden snapped out of lala land and came chasing after me. Ahhh! Gets me every time.
We ate over at the Scotts house this week. They are an older couple who have been in the ward forever and they know everything about everyone. While we were over there they had a sign on their wall that read: “When I die I want to be buried in the Wal-Mart parking lot so my wife will come and visit me every day.” Then they showed me another sign that they found. This sign was located underneath a handicapped parking sign. It read: “Stupidity is not considered to be a handicap. Park somewhere else!” Haha.
Then my favorite thing that happened this week was during testimony meeting. We had some investigators visiting so of course we were super paranoid about what is said during the church meetings. Someone in the ward went up and bore a beautiful testimony, and in the middle of it they testified of the importance of learning all different kinds of skills. “Who would have thought that learning how to belly dance could save someone’s life?” We heard “belly dance” and about fainted. Then the person recounted how one of their relatives was choking and they would have died if they had not been taught a belly dancing move that acted as a self Heimlich maneuver. So there you go. Belly dancing can save your life.
As far as missionary work goes, I don’t really know what to say. This has been one of the most memorable weeks of my entire mission. It was up then down then up then down. But we found a bunch of people to teach so it was all worth it!
Hope you have a great week! Talk to ya later!
Sister Johnson