Chocolate Girls

The Patchi chocolate girls crack me up. Every time I go by the store they stick their tongues out at me, or make silly faces and I make them right back. Ha ha, so professional. I really like when they run up to me and give me handfuls of chocolate! Sometimes a little friendly flirtation goes a long way!

My thoughts on depression.

My thoughts on depression, or at least being down. I was in a sad mood yesterday. I walked by Haagen Dazs ... walked by it.. kept walking... and then thought to myself, I want something sweet right now, a little feel good... Don't do it! Don't do it! So I got some ice cream, and felt a little better. Then I started thinking about my abs, and I was bummed thinking how I may be adversely affecting my figure. Then I was down again. So I went to the store to buy some M&M's... it is a vicious cycle.

Mandarin as a second language

Today at work I had a group of Koreans who did not speak English. One of them spoke Mandarin and so I was able to speak to her and she communicated with the rest of the group what I was saying. I speak a lot of Mandarin everyday to so many Chinese people who sometimes have varying degrees of ability in English, and sometimes can't speak any English so my Mandarin is useful, but this was different. It clicked in my mind that I was participating in 2 people using Mandarin as a second language to communicate. It gave a whole new meaning to my experience here.

No More US Missionaries in Russia.

Russia finally changed its laws. American missionaries will no longer be serving in Russia. What an incredible development. I'm sure many people are freaked out by it, but it doesn't mean missionaries from the rest of the world won't be serving there. It may be in God's plan to help strengthen his church in Russia by relying more on the Russians who have been members for nearly 20 years and know the Gospel as well as any foreign missionary could. My jaw dropped when I read about it, but I feel comforted because I taught there, I converted many people and they are strong and have themselves converted others. I am confident that I and all the missionaries who served with me helped to build an unshakable foundation for the church there. I am actually excited for all those members to have this new challenge... if it even is one... opportunity rather and have peace in my heart that all is well there.

The Dancers.

I had a long talk with one of the dancers about an interesting topic. I don't really want most of it public but I don't want to forget it. Basically I was told that all the dancers want me and all I have to do is flirt with them and I could take anyone of them home with me and have my way. That I don't act sexy enough, I don't give off a sexual vibe and that I'm crazy for not having sex. I REALLY don't fit in here.

No need for Magic.

Yup, it's true. Rich men get the beautiful girls. That's basically all I see here. This tells me that beauty is most important to men, and money is most important to women. It is so widespread in everywhere that I've seen that I don't think it's shallow, I think it's just how it is. This also tells me I'm a long way from marriage. I don't care how much or little money I have, I don't want to be with someone who loves me for it. I have passed up so many opportunities to have a lot of material things and participate in immoral activities but instead I stand by and watch those around me do them. It makes me lonely. It's like I'm harnessing all my strength to be a good man with integrity and virtue in all things day in and day out and not really getting anything out of it accept the ability to say to myself "I'm a good man". It's becoming less and less fulfilling as I watch others getting ahead in life by means that I haven't let myself. The offers are there so why don't I take them? The answer is easy the first few hundred times. "Because it's wrong". But here I am 27.5 years old and no girlfriend because I'm not good enough for the Mormon girls whose families have always been members, and I'm to goody goody for the girls that want a man who will go out and have a drink and at least have sex considered for a few dates down the road. I feel like my magic has run out. My world used to be so magical. The hardest part is knowing that I know how to make it magical and serendipitous yet I don't because as much joy it brings me, each time so far a lot of pain has been waiting at the end.

Driving School Cars and Haircuts.

I love the driving school cars here. They HAVE to stop for you. They are everywhere and make it easy to cross the street.

I got my hair cute for the 3rd time since I've been here. I'm getting frustrated. Usually when you pay $15 bucks for a mens haircut in the states, you walk out feeling attractive. You go to get your haircut so you'll look better and enjoy your appearance more. I usually get my hair cut about 3 days before anything that's big to me, like a really anticipated date or something I just really want to look good to. Well, I dread every time my hair is so long I need to get it cut, because as bad as it looks... It is guaranteed to look worse after I get it cut. So for the 3rd time in China, after getting it cut, instead of walking out feeling like a million bucks, I walked out feeling like a piece of poo. And I wanted to look good for someone!!! DANG IT!!!! Several girls that are just my friends have even said, you don't look good with your hair like that. (It's currently the length of tennis ball fuzz!!). I told the guy exactly what to do, who was totally fluent in English let alone knew all the terminology of haircuts! Grrrrrr! When will I feel good after a cut again?!!!

A feeling I love.

I love those times when I've been walking and I'll look up, and in front of me is the girl.  The girl I have a mad crush on and my heart starts to beat out of my chest.  The girl I might not know at all, or maybe I know her well but have just recently fallen for.  My heart beats so hard because she might know.  Maybe she has sensed how I'm feeling before, maybe I made a little comment about who I'm crushing on to a friend who went and passed it on to her friends who maybe passed it on to her.  Maybe I spilled all the beans to someone who spilled all the beans straight to her.  Maybe she doesn't know anything at all, or me at all.  There have been a few girls and really only a handful of times when that unexpected pleasant surprise of her being so perfectly placed in my path gets my heart racing.  They are some of my favorite memories.

Riddles

If a train is going forward blowing smoke, which way is the smoke blowing? North, South, East Or west?

If you have one question to ask a man about the number he's thinking in his head, 1,2 or 3, and his answers can only be yes, no, or I don't know.... what is the question to ask to find out the number he's thinking?

20 sick sheep.

The boat crossing the river with chicken feed, a chicken and wolf.

How much dirt is in a 7x9x14 hole?

Place crashes on the border of canada, where do you bury the survivors.

Just being ridiculous

For about the last month I have been entertaining myself by saying "hello" to people in the Venetian mall by saying "Pizza" and waving hi. I die laughing every time they say PIZZA with a smile on their face and wave back.

أنا هنا لكي بالملل!! اريد ان اعود الى امريكا الآن!

Typhoon 8

I walked to the Venetian today to do some hat shopping. It was raining outside but I thought no big deal. Then as I was holding my umbrella horizontally to stop the rain I thought "this is pretty wild weather!" The rain was coming at me completely sideways and I was leaning my body weight against my umbrella, then wham! The rain and wind came at me from the exact opposite direction and turn the umbrella inside out and just about knocked me over. I was quite amused... and wet.

I get to the Venetian to find out almost all the stores are closed and many employees had been sent home because there is a level 8 Typhoon on the way. The bridges between Taipa and Macau are closed everything is getting locked down. I'm home now and waiting for the eye of the storm to get here. As far as I know, a Typhoon is a Hurricane that spins in the opposite direction :) Kinda like toilets in Australia.

My heart leaped

Ella no sonríe más a mí, ella camina lejos cuando me pongo a hablar con ella y ella todavía no puedo decir mi nombre derecho ... más por lo que no "aplastar" para mí. No tengo la menor idea de lo cambió por lo que estoy del mismo. Sin embargo hoy he visto caminar a su pueblo ropa regular a lo largo del canal y mi corazón leaped. Ella ni siquiera verme. Sé que nada va a pasar, ja, pero ha sido al menos 2 años desde que me sentí, y que sentía bien.

Il mio cuore è balzata dal mio petto.

Per praticare uno dei miei lingue Io vado a tradurre questo. Lei non mi ha sorriso in più, lei si allontana quando cominciamo a parlare con lei e lei ancora non è in grado di dire il mio nome giusto ... Non sono più "sbandata" per me. Non ho alcun indizio che cosa è cambiato in modo Sto su di esso. Ma oggi ho visto i suoi piedi e le persone normali vestiti lungo il canale e il mio cuore esultò. Lei non ha nemmeno vedermi. Non so nulla sta per accadere, ah, ma è stata almeno 2 anni da quando ho sentito che, e si sentiva bene.

Sikh Jewelry

I met a lady from India today who was wearing newlywed jewelry. It went half way up her arm and was gorgeous. She was "Sikh" religion and will wear that jewelry for an entire year. It looked awesome. I tried to google a picture of it but couldn't find any.

Today I met a family from the Philippines and they had a little 5 year old girl who was ADORABLE!!! She was so incredibly smart.

Hopper

I was walking to the Gym in Macau, and I felt something smack against my shoe. Then I saw something in the corner of my eye scurrying off. I had kicked a large frog as it was in mid air.
Crazy.

Proud

So I am the young men's leader/teacher/everything in Macau. I have to teach in a combination of English, Cantonese and Mandarin and even a bit of Portuguese because those are the languages spoken by the boys of this mixed branch. It has to be done or not every boy will get a complete comprehension of the lesson taught. I have helped to ordain several of the boys as 3 of them have turned 12 in the time that I've been here. It's great because today was the first time since I've been here I haven't passed the sacrament. It's sometimes strange to pass the sacrament as a 27 year old... EVERY week. The missionaries bless it every week with the exception of the occasional Peter (New convert from Vietnam) stepping in. The thing that was great about it is that we came up with a way to pass the sacrament to include them, and the 3 boys passed it all by themselves without any problem and with reverence. It was so cool to see these boys from different lands work together in their new calling to make a complete sacrament. Elder cap and I (the branch president) made eye contact and smiled when it was over because we were both so excited to have this new element in our branch.

我喜欢学和写普通话。

我今天刚开始学普通话。我也喜欢妇奴。

Many of the older men here have moles. From those moles spout hair that is sometimes 6 or so inches long. They shave the rest of their face, but they leave that part growing and growing. Some of the men don't even have moles, they just pick a spot on their face, around the area a dimple would be, and then start growing out the hair from there. From my westerner perspective.... it looks pretty hideous, but apparently it's a sign of prestige... or extreme self loathing. I'll have to study it more so as maybe to gain an appreciation for it. For now I prefer not to see it.