Friday, February 13, 2009

Day One: Back East Excursion



From what I recall, this is my first legitimate red eye flight. It was nice to experience. I kind of like travelling while I’m supposed ot be sleeping because then it allows me to multi-task—I either sleep while I travel or I read and get things done and just forego sleep for the day. This night, I did a little bit of both.

Although I must admit, JetBlue is one comfortable jet, I still couldn’t sleep without feeling clostrophobic etc. I ended up sleeping for a bit on the floor. The remainder of the time I was able to review most of the chapters in Lectures on Faith so I could draft a rebuttal to an adversary. We arrived in New York at 5a.m.—some of us less happy than others. I personally was taking advantage of the empty train cars by running laps and feeling first hand the effects of physics. When we arrived at Jendar (Meg’s friend who is hosting us this week)’s house, she made us delicious breakfast tacos and allowed us to go to sleep. I was more interested in scheduling my week of exciting events, calling people to set up appointments, finishing Lectures on Faith, and visiting a local museum.



The bums (Jonah and Meg) woke up at 10:30 to tell me they were too tired to travel another 4 hours to Boston (the bus was to leave at noon). Since I didn’t want to miss the conference just to ride with them, I headed down to Chinatown to catch an earlier (noon) bus by myself so that I could utilize a couple extra hours in Boston for reconnecting with old friends—or at least reconnecting with Anna’s Taqueria. That blessed establishment did more for the work of the Lord in the MBM than most things in Boston.




New York’s weather is OH SO surprisingly nice. It’s a beautiful 50 degrees, but it’s extremely windy. It was so windy that on the bus ride while we were travelling toward the Bronx, we had a slow up because an outhouse was blowing over into freeway traffic. A police officer needed to stop and secure it before allowing to people to pass through.



General feel: I really miss New York—not enough to live here myself, but enough to appreciate its value. As ego-centric I believe the people here to be, there is only so much self-absorption that can occur when you are around so many millions of people a day. In the lone country, it’s easier to think of oneself than in a city of crowded individuals just trying to get by. I have a strange love for these people whom I’ve never met, and I love seeing God’s children all together in one spot, all trying to progress and find happiness. It makes me want to do missionary work. I believe that is why the Lord sent me to metropolitan Boston; He knew that I would be more giving when I saw the sheer volume of need for Him and His gospel every single day. I’ve set a goal to give out 10 Restoration pamphlets while here. We’ll see what happens. Hopefully I won’t be as ruthless as I was on the mission and just hand it out like it’s water at a marathon.


(The former sister) Lisa Rogers and I got to visit President and Sister England on Valentine's Day. Who does that? It was a blessed experience with lots of memories flooding back and lots of love to go around.




MBM--We are his army, called in the latter days.