The other night, I fell asleep to rain on m roof, and this morning I woke up to it. There is a steady, cold drizzle falling on Sheboygan, and I generally love these days. In the hot summer, a rainy day was a wonderful day for a run, and an amazing day for a game of ultimate frisbee. My best game ever was this past summer during a pouring rain. I dove for 6 scores and slid a combined 80 feet after the catch. Great day. Two of my most memorable practices from high school cross country involved rain. One, a Wednesday freshman year, was cancelled because we had enough wind and rain to lean at a 45 degree angle into the wind without falling down... until the wind cut out quickly. Then you had better catch yourself, or your face would. The other was my junior year, and Woody Hanson came back for a practice. We did a rabbit run through Evergreen. It was the only time I had not caught someone in a rabbit.
Days like this bring an element of peace to me. The sound of rain is comforting, and reminds me of my Scottish heritage. And these days, I begin to think about where I will serve my mission. With over 350 missions in 162 countries, I am really in a guessing game as to where I will be from early 2012 through the same time 2014. When I start thinking, I start drifting off into what it could be like, and where I would like to go. Disclaimer: I do not know the exact limits of certain missions, but these are the broad and/or specific places I would like to be... which probably means I won't go to any of these places.
#1 Alaska: A land of incredible natural beauty with mountains, snow, and very little sunlight, I have wanted to go to Alaska ever since my friend Mark Palenske told me he would take me if I set a school running record.
#2 New Zealand: Another area with rolling hills and mountains, swathes of seemingly untouched wilderness. It doesn't hurt that they play rugby and filmed Lord of the Rings here.
#3 Scotland: I have wanted to run the highlands since first seeing Braveheart in 1996. The land is a rugged and wondrous place, and I have wanted to see if I could blend my phoney Scottish accent successfully with the real guys. Wearing a kilt on my mission would be a huge bonus.
#4 Ireland or England: Countries that I have either had an innate connection with (The Isle), or have simply immersed myself in the history of (England) to the point where I want to visit both. Living there for two years and hearing the history from the people themselves would appeal to the historian in me.
#5 Italy or France: I count myself a romantic, and being able to travel to the two countries I consider the root of romanticism and learn a language that I have wanted to learn for years would appeal greatly to my softer side.
#7 Middle East: I'm not sure where I would want to be specifically, but probably Israel, or Saudi Arabia. Israel because of the great amount of religious history, and also the locations of such political strife from the Egyptians invading, the Babylonians, the Greeks, Romans, and eventually the armies of Europe, Mongolian hordes on the doorstep, Ottaman Turks, etc. Saudi Arabia because I would love to learn to learn to speak Arabic, a seemingly beautiful and flowing verbal and written language.
#8 Eastern Europe: The entire region is littered with mountains and a people as tough as the land. Also, my former boss, and friend, wants me to go there and meet a mutual friends sister and marry her. Not exactly in my plans, but I would be remiss to omit this.
#9 West Virginia: Sorry Brando, but the countryside is all rolling hills and mountains, good weather from what I saw, and close to so much history that I studied in my civil war immersion.
#10 Utah: I know, but I haven't ever been to Utah, so I figure a two year stint there could do me well. Plus, it is a GORGEOUS state, voted the most beautiful area of the US by my former Middle Eastern History professor.
Well, that rolls up my top 10 (12 if you split 4 and 5 into two each, and about 25 depending on how many Eastern European and Middle Eastern countries you count), and I honestly do not know where I am going. All I can do is prepare myself to be ready when m name is called.
Where do YOU think I will be going?
STATESIDE! It's the best. But really, every mission has its pros and cons, and remember, this isn't a vacation, it's a mission, and you're not a tourist, you're a missionary. More elders than you might think seem to confuse the two.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm not sure a kilt is approved missionary attire anyway. ;)
(ALSO also, totally unrelatedly, as are often your blogpost titles, it is interesting to me how many people misinterpret the line you quoted for this post's title. "Wherefore" doesn't mean "where," it means "why" or "consequently," and Juliet isn't asking WHERE Romeo is, she's asking WHY he's Romeo. It totally changes the meaning! Just a little side note.)