Saturday, November 29, 2008

Social Darwinism or Hormones? hmmmm.... (7/10)

My father is under the false impression that this is a missionary blog. I am currently setting out to correct that impression. True, this blog documents my experiences as a missionary, serves as a way for me to share my thoughts on my relationship with Christ, and gives an accurate picture of the struggles I face as I attempt to witness, but it's not a missionary blog.

No, this blog is how I let off steam.

So, the girl from yesterday's post brought her sister to church for the first time today. I was really happy for this, especially since she seems to have an honest interest in the things we discussed in Sabbath school. I was very glad that Brandon's dad was visiting. He saw that the lesson (on the mark of the beast) didn't fit the audience (a bunch of new visitors) and took them on a crash course in God's love instead, though he also managed to stitch the two together quite nicely.

I went skating with some friends who are running an aviation ministry in the afternoon (pics soon), then came back to help the two girls with their sociology essay. I was relieved to see that they really had written an essay, or rather an outline for an essay. Unfortunately it was all in Mongolian. We spent about three and a half hours working on writing an English version. I spent most of that time rapidly scanning the textbook, wiki articles and book summaries so that I would have some clue what she was telling me.

I can tell you one thing, Herbert Spencer was a pseudo-intellectual sadistic git.

So I did learn a few things about sociology, though I still don't understand the definition of "grant system" and how it compares "allotment system". I have an idea, but I can't find enough examples on the internet to test my idea.
At about 10:30 I made the mistake of practicing my Mongolian by saying I was a little tired. This made her feel guilty, so she said she would do the second half of the essay herself. I think she'll probably copy it from the internet. Their eyes lit up as I quickly scanned articles on each new topic. I have caused sin, lol.

The great thing about the whole three hours is that one of the girls really reminded me of a girl I knew in high school: really hot and slightly ditsy. It was wonderful, because I could make fun of her constantly in exactly the same way I'd always wanted to make fun of the girl from high school, but she'd never understand what I was talking about. Rather, she'd understand everything except for the important bits, like such:

Me: "Ok" -deep breath- "Go away hormones, we have to study social darwinism"
Girl: -innocently quizzical expression- "Hormones?"
Me: "Yep, hormones are things that keep us from concentrating on social darwinism"

There was a bit of flirting that she probably did understand, and I feel a little bad about that since I have no intention of ever seriously pursuing her. The pathetic reality is that it really wasn't flirting, just the manifestation of an irresistible drive to do SOMETHING involving people. A fist fight probably would have done just as well, though I think that if I had to chose between flirting and a fist fight I'd chose flirting.

I discussed my plans for the future with my friends this afternoon. My plans for the future always make me think of marriage, and thinking of marriage always brings a wandering, amorphous need for contact to my mind. Contact is a mutual need, contact is warmth, contact is two souls and two minds, each bringing the other to a level they could not reach alone.

Marry in haste, repent at leisure.

I don't know if that's an English saying or a Mongolian one, since I found it as an example in the Mongolian - English dictionary, but it certainly is true. I can't let myself seek out an emotional candy bar at the expense of the meal.

Still, I have briefly tasted contact, enough to grasp the idea.

And it's been more than two years.

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Being a missionary means learning the difference between your twisted addictions and your God-given needs. Don't jump to conclusions about how this relates to the post.

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