Dear Diary, Tomorrow is the big day--I leave for the mission. Mom has gotten me packed, Julia is pitching a feminist conniption about how men have always been required to go on mission, not women. We are supposed to be having a big family dinner but also I am meeting up later with John, Sarabel, and Jason later. Mom wanted to know why don't I just invite them over here for dinner and then stay in all night with them AND the family, but that wouldn't really be very much fun either for the family or my friends--or for me. So, this way, a little of both. On the Plane
Airport was a hassle. Said my bags weighted too much, so rather than pay a fine, I took some of the books out and Mom and Dad took them home. I cannot believe I am going to New York. I always thought maybe I'd go somewhere exotic on mission, like Jamaica or South America or China or Russia, but New York? I might have plenty of other opportunities to go to New York. A reminder, maybe, that the point of mission is not to give me an exciting time in a far-off land, but to introduce people to the church. Later on the Plane
There is some turbulence, but at least I am not stuck in some airport on layover. The person next to me has purple hair and an eyebrow ring and says she lives in Greenwich Village. I wonder who she had been visiting in Utah. Her name in Denise, and she asked why I was coming to New York. I tried to explain, but I don't think she got it. "Oh, but I believe in the Bible," she said. So I took out the Pearl of Great Price and the Book of Mormon to show her it was different from her Bible, but I didn't make any headway. If I can't convince, or even explain what I am doing, to a captive audience on a plane, how am I going to be effective stationed at a subway or college campus in the middle of New York? Perhaps I should think that God has worked through many missionaries successfully before, so I might be successful too. But also I know people who returned from six months--six months!!!--trying to help people be Mormons with no success! No success at all.