For FHE yesterday we decided to go through all of Dad's mementos. He was specifically looking for the journal he kept when he was a youngin, but the night quickly turned into a trip down mission memory lane.
We had been talking about the early missions of the church on Sunday, so it seemed perfect to see what it was like for Dad to be serving a mission 22 years ago.
Jared found some old baseball pictures of Nate and he couldn't believe how much they look alike at the same age. I love the picture of Nate's mission shoes. Those shoes served him well and he wore them out in the service of the Lord. He said that even though they were completely beaten up, he would polish them everyday. The tie is one that he wore everyday for the last year of his mission. He had probably 30 ties, but he loved torturing his companions with the same tie. He would go through a big production, for one companion in particular, about so many ties to choose from and which should I wear today and then pick the same one he did everyday. Yep, totally sounds like something he would do.
As I went through the hundreds of pictures, I picked a few that were especially indicative of the time period or Nate's personality. We've got a nephew out on a mission right now that writes home about crazy things that happen or the silly things he does and it reminds me so much of Nate on his mission.
The Mexican pull over with the parachute pants were an especially rockin combo. Seriously, why were those pants ever acceptable? The dead cat chalk outline, classic. Although I think it looks like a bunny. The picture on the bottom right is of a companion from Brazil that hardly spoke a lick of English. For 2 month this Elder was wanting some "explode bread" and they finally figured out what it was. Biscuits in a can. I am also loving the hershey syrup/ketchup combo for the fries. Nate still laughs when he thinks of this companion.
We had a fun time looking through all the mission stuff and getting to hear stories. The kids also found it humorous to read old love letters that he received from girls in middle school and high school. They think it's funny that Dad was such a player and had a good laugh at the things these girls would write to him. He dodged some serious bullets! haha
I was not the girl who waited for him while he was on his mission. I wan't even a member of the church yet, but I did know him and know he was on a mission. We never wrote. He had another girl waiting for him but he got "dear Johned" at the end of his mission.
Lucky for me I ran into him right when he got home from his mission. The first thing out of my mouth when I saw him was "so, are you married yet?" lol
I was his first date since he had been home.
I wasn't the last date because he went off to BYU, but we wrote.
And the rest is history! :0)
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