This blog is for the whole family.
We are here and you are there, We are just as interested in what is going on in your world as you are in ours. We know you are busy, and so are we. We were hoping this venue would be of mutual benefit for all of us. We would really enjoy hearing about your lives and what you all are doing.
We are staying busy with missionary work. We have found about five or six new investigators this week, after knocking on over a hundred doors. It is a thrill for us when people invite us into their homes, and want us to tell them about the church. We even have had people come up to us on the street and want to know what we are about.
In our post about Mexico, I left out one thing in particular about the traffic control system. They have very few traffic lights here, and no one pays much attention to stop signs, they are merely suggestions not orders. Soooo... what they do is just before every intersection point where there is potential for a collision, they construct topes, (big speed bumps) that will tear up your car if you don´t stop and proceed forward very slowly. It works very well.
Watch for our next post. We will tell you all about our pyramid adventure and also about a little market we found right near our house. It is called El Mercado Carmen, and it is a covered building of about 5 to 10 acres, one story with hundreds maybe even thousnds of tiny stalls of independent vendors.
That´s all for now, Tune in next week for more.
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3 comments:
Good to hear from you. Mexico certainly sounds interesting.
We are all doing well. Corinne is of coures working to much and to hard. But that looks like it could be changing a bit. The Doc who is going to Australia got here Visa and she will be leaving October the 5th. Between now and then Corinne will work a great deal. Alison (The Doc) is a wonderful person and Corinne feels a great responsiblility to her and she loves her as well.
The transitition for Corinne with the changes at work has been very hard. I think she has been a little depressed, but she talks with Ruth now and then and I think that helps. Even just a quick hello from her sister carrys a lot of weight for Corinne. From me to but hearing from Ruthie now and then makes Corinne happy because it is purly social and fun.
Corinne has interviewed for a management postion where she would end up managing about 4 practices including an Urgent Care center, The place is practically a hospital. It has an emergency room and everything. Corinne is on about her 4th interview for the job. She has gotten past the HR department the manager that would be inchage of her, the Doc in charge of that building and now she has an interview with all of the Providers (Doctors) in the building. I dont think they would go that far unless they were pretty interested. The place is bigger than the hospital in my home town by quite a bit.
Andrew is still working and getting ready for his mission. He went out last week and bought several pairs of black socks to see what king he likes. Then he went out and bought 10 pairs of the ones he likes. He is a little concerned about what kind of Coat to get. He will have white shirts and his dress coat, than a coat to wear over the dress coat and he will also need a coat for P Day and in PA it gets really cold so he is currently working on that. He got his temple recommend from the Bishop and is making his appointment with the Stake President as well.
Sean is working at a Burrito place and seems to be doing well. He decided agains playing foodball this year to try to get straight As and so far he has a 4.10. I hope he can keep it up. He makes a good burrito, I know that. He also bought a beautiful Martin Guitar. He spends about an hour a day playing guitar and he really quite good. HE knows a lot of complex songs and sings a lot. To hear him you have to stand at the top of the stairs and listen. If he knows anyone is nearby he simply wont play.
Danni and Sam both seem to be doing well enough. Danni and Preston are doing really well. Samantha is struggling a bit. She cant understand how to catch the kind of guy she wants. She spends her free time at dance clubs and she meets that kind of guy, but then when that same guy is not a stay at home meet the family kind of guy its kind of hard for her. She is a gem, I just hope she figures out that a family man is what she wants and that she will start looking for that type of guy in the right place.
Helo 3 came out so thats a big part of our life right now too. The boys love that. Andrew played yesterday for 6 hours straight. He wants to ge as much play time in as he can before he leaves on his mission.
I have not heard from Jen or Loren in over a month. I have left several messages, at least 6, but they dont seem to return phone calls. Its Jens phone and I know she has odd hours with here work but I'd like to hear from them.
You can tell its fall here. You can smell it in the air and feel the chill. It wont be long before things start getting cold.
Cordell
Sean Rich
English 101 – Ms. Hurd
Personal Essay
9/27/07
Becoming Dave
I had always wondered what it would be like to be that guy. We all know the guy. He is the guy that everyone could count on. The guy that when a group of friends found themselves in a tight spot they would say, “I wish Dave was here”. We all know or have known a Dave. I’ve only known a few. He is a rare breed, Dave, and I have always looked up to them. Ever since I was a little kid I wanted to be Dave. I wanted to be the guy that made everyone feel safer, when he was around. That sort of dependence makes you feel good, like a father figure. The trick though, was becoming Dave.
For years I had tried my best to put on a tough outer shell. I figured ninety percent of being Dave was putting on a hard front, even though I later realized I was completely wrong. Through out the years whenever there was a difficult or scary task before my friends, and me, I would be the guy to step up and do it. When in all honesty I would be scared to death half the time, but I could never show any of it. I knew that if I ever wanted to be that guy I would have to step up and be, or at least, appear fearless. I had never found myself in such an opportune moment to appear fearless as I did when I went to war, metaphorically of course, and by war I meant paintball. Which is as close to war as a fourteen-year-old living in Boise Idaho could come.
Paintball was a true test of manhood, or at least it was when I was fourteen. A new guy in a group could quickly find himself among the lions in just one morning of paintball. So it was important not to break face, and not be out done. To show courage in the line of non-lethal fire was to be a man, or in my case, to be Dave. I knew that if I ever wanted to be him I would have to show unfailing bravery and exceptional courage while paint balling. I would have to be that guy that volunteered for the suicidal yet hopeful plan. Such a task sounds simple to the un-educated mind, but to pull it off was a different story all together.
Although I would like to say that I was a fearless paint baller, the truth is, I am not. My first experience with a paintball gun left me in my sisters’ bathroom crying like a ten-year-old girl, holding my thumb under a cold tap. I may not have been the most heroic paint baller at the time, but I knew Dave was, and that is why I knew I had to overcome my girlish past and become a man, become Dave.
It was very hot that morning, the morning that I would become Dave, hot enough that I debated with myself weather or not to wear my sweatshirt. This seemingly obvious decision to be made was not as easy as it first sounds. To the inexperienced mind the obvious answer would be, if it’s hot, don’t wear a sweatshirt. But to a fourteen-year-old paint baller, much more thought takes place. The suns hot beams smothered us and we were all sweaty, but all of the guys kept there sweat shirts on, because they knew that it would make the blow hurt less if they got shot, all of them but one. This one was named Derrick. Derrick was some new guy that one of my friends had invited to come with us. He had been talking big game all the car ride up. He had been flapping his jaw about how magnificent he was at paint balling, and his gloating became tiresome to me very quickly. Such talk was dangerous to my goals of achieving complete stardom. I wanted to be the guy everyone wanted on his team, and this new comer posed a threat to that mission. I knew that to be Dave I would have to out do Derrick. So when Derrick opted to not wear a sweatshirt I had no choice but to compliment his action. I had already been debating weather or not to wear my sweatshirt. I knew that if I did I would be just like everyone else and no harm would come from it. Yet on the other hand, I asked myself, what would Dave do? Many normal and perhaps more civilized people find themselves asking, What would Jesus Do? But I consistently found myself asking, what would Dave do? So when this Derrick announced that he would not be wearing his sweatshirt, it really burst my bubble. I wanted to be the guy to show that he had balls, not the guy that does it just because someone else did it. But I knew that I had no choice but to take what I had, and remove my sweatshirt.
We then used the old Chinese fish bowl trick to choose the team captains. After the two captains had been tricked into there roles, we all lined up for the choosing. The order that you got chosen in was a great way to determine where you were in the ranks. If you got picked first then you were in pretty good shape, but to get chosen last was a bad sign. For this very reason I was worried. I had been chosen third out of about twelve. Which of course was not bad, if you wanted to be a schmuck, but for me, the guy that wanted to be Dave, it was not a good sign. Dave would have been chosen first, no questions asked... I told myself, and whom would you believe got chosen first. Well it was non-other then mister paintball prophet himself, Derrick. This made me even angrier. The first luck that I received that morning was being chosen to be on the same team as Derrick. This would give me the opportunity I was looking for to show him up.
When the match started things were going just about normal. The object of the game was to capture your enemies’ flag and bring it back to your own base. This seemingly simple task, on the contrary, proved quite troublesome to our platoon, it always did. When the match started we had to devise a plan. Derrick used that magnificently large mouth of his to pipe up first, going on to describe in immense detail his flawless plan, wrought from many years of paint balling experience.
“How about some guys stay here, and the rest of us will go get the flag and bring it back to the base”, said Derrick.
I couldn’t help but let out a smile. I was expecting pearls of wisdom, and he delivered what happened to be the same plan that every elementary school child came up with. I immediately volunteered to be on the recon group. I wouldn’t let Derrick out of my sight. As we made our way to the enemy base I kept a close eye on Derrick watching his every move, waiting like a starving vulture, for my chance to prove superiority. Derrick wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t good. He was just like every other guest a friend brought to one of our little battles. So I sat patiently waiting, for my chance to claim the throne.
Although Derrick was not a good paint baller, he also did not make any mistakes on our little venture to the enemy base. I knew that if Derrick simply made his way through the battle alive, his mouth would do the rest of the work, so I knew I had to do something extraordinary. The first opportunity I had to do something irrational or suicidal, I would have to take it, no questions asked.
We slowly crept up to the enemy base. It was crawling with hostiles. We nestled into the side of a dirt mound to discuss our next step. We talked for quite a while, but through all of our arguing and planning one truth remained, someone had to run into the enemy base to get the flag. One of the guys made a glorious suggestion. Why doesn’t Derrick go get the flag? This sounded like a great plan to the rest of the men. Sending our supposed best player would give us the best chance of success. The men all turned to look at Derrick, and to there utter surprises saw something they didn’t expect, absolute fear gripping there precious hero. Derrick fumbled with his words, trying to make some new plan that didn’t involve him running into the furnace. This was my chance; I shouted somewhat awkwardly, “I’ll go!” It came out before I even had time to contemplate my decision. The truth was I was scared poopless by this task, but I couldn’t give the faintest sign of timid ness, I got up and I started running like a blood-crazed bull at the enemy base, and would you believe it, it ended with success. After the game followed my five minutes of glory, which included four pats on the back, one smack on the butt, and a high five, from my teammates. Not to mention the endless bragging rights to follow. After my five minutes had passed it was time to rechoose the teams, and who would be picked first but I, the guy.
That day I figured out that it wasn’t about just appearing to be tough or strong. But that when it came down to it if you really ever want to become that guy you have to follow through and actually show true courage. It is not all of the preparation and talk that happens before an event, but the actual moment that dictates weather you are that guy. Appearing to be brave will only get you halfway there. But to become Dave I had to be willing to show it, and go all the way.
Sean,
It looks like you have the writers gene. This is something you should try to develop during your life, for it is a gift from God, and all gifts which your father in heaven gives to you, he expects you to increase and use to build his kingdom.
I really liked your story, and you show a wonderful ability to tell a story and disclose your innermost personal feelings in such a way as to draw the reader in, and help them to better understand their own feelings.
Dave sounds like a great guy. His spirit though courageous and determined is a little reckless. Charging recklessly into the enemy’s camp may accomplish the goal on his luckiest day, but it could end up being fatal. Then all that is accomplished is to become remembered as a dead hero. Better to use diversion, stealth, and cunning to outsmart the enemy. I liked the story, and you made some really good points. I personally think Dave should be the kind of a guy who is a courageous and intelligent leader who can come up with a plan that will accomplish the goal with the least amount of risk. He should be the kind who is willing to be led by the spirit, lead by the spirit, and be protected by faith. Your Dave reminded me a little of the David who slew Goliath, but without his faith in God, Goliath might well have slew him.
Your character Dave really makes your grandma and I think of you. We hope you keep up your writing and expressing yourself, by using your talent to reveal your innermost feelings and emotions.
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