It
was fun to skype with you guys on Christmas, even though I couldn’t see you.
Now that all the parties are over, it’s back to work. Luckily, the next time we
talk face to face will be at home!
After
skyping, the week continued with some fun activities for us. We had a ward
talent show on Saturday and they told us, the missionaries, that we had to do
something. As well as being forced we felt like we should participate because
we weren’t sure if too many members would do anything – and we didn’t want it
to be a flop. We kept putting off our sketch until Friday night, which reminded
me of the many late night school projects I’ve had. We decided to write our own
“church history rap”! 4 hours after we
started, we had rehearsed and polished a pretty sweet sounding rap.
I
tried committing my part to memory, and thought it’d go over well. Saturday
night came around and a lot of people were participating in the talent show.
Even without us, it was a quality activity. But our turn came around and we
took our place in the middle of the floor. Our rap started and it was good. BUT
I FORGOT ALL MY LINES! Absolutely terrible stage fright. I managed to get out
the first 2 or 3 lines but after that, I just drew a blank. Now here were my
thoughts; “okay elder Johnson, what are you going to do? You are being watched
by the whole branch and you forgot the lines to your rap. Up to these first 15
seconds, no one is too enthralled by the song. You are already in the middle of
the floor so there is no going back.”
Well I decided to just go crazy with my dance
moves!! If I couldn’t rap, I could at least dance while Elder Colindres raped
his lines (Luckily, Elder Colindres raped all his lines and saved the song we
wrote). So I started shuffling…and everyone went crazy!!! After that it was the
Moon Walk, some Jerking, the Cranky Frank (a dance made up by elder hatch). The
members got so excited to see me dance. In fact little primary children came on
the stage with us and started dancing. In the words of Elder Colindres, “you
know it’s good when the primary kids join in with you.” In the end we were
happy and the branch was clapping and laughing. I should say, I’m so thankful I
invested hours upon hours in church dances, cuz if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have
been able to bust out all those moves haha.
I
thought it was such a neat experience and also a good lesson. Looking at our
skit, it was looking like a failure. We simply didn’t do what we had planned. I
admit I literally FAILED at raping. But even though I failed at raping, we
didn’t fail in the end. Our skit was actually a success. A big success. I think
that erased some of my fear on criticism. Friday night, I was so scared that
people wouldn’t like what we planned and that we would be embarrassed. But as
soon as I decided that I was just going to do something no matter what, that
fear of criticism went away, and people actually enjoyed it.
It’s
kinda the same in life – right? We plan various activities from real
performances, to dinners, to dates, to work, to service, to church lessons, to
recreational activities, and it goes on and on. Sometimes we feel these
activities are linked to our self-esteem and it’s possible that they might be
criticized. True, we might fail in perfectly executing the plans (just like I
failed my rap) – but when we simply do our best and go all out (like I did with
my “white boy” dancing) things will work out. I remember watching a Mormon
message where a young father basically said, I learned from my service in the
church that I could put in my very best and that was always acceptable. This is
just one of those fun life experiences you have on a mission.
Later
on Sunday, I was asked to give a talk, 30 minutes before sacrament meeting!
First time I’ve ever given a talk on my mission. Let’s just say I’m grateful
that as a missionary you are always studying gospel topics, so they are always
in the front of your head. Again, I had a little bit of stage fright which is
normal, but did my best and people said it was a good talk!
I
know you guys still have a week of vacation, so first off, enjoy the New Year’s
Eve dance for me! Practice your Shuffling, because you never know when you
could be in a third world country and need to entertain a big crowd. haha. And
second, when school restarts have fun with your studies and at work as well.
You’re going to fail in some aspects – but you can still be successful in the
end :) I love you guys, like I said; talking with you was the highlight of the
week. Keep safe and have some fun adventures this week!
