We are locked in

email 10/27/08

So we had a very fun experience: my companion and I and Elder Ballard and Elder Ahlstrom. We went to district meeting on Tuesday in the chapel in Paso Molino with the whole zone. I had left my scriptures upstairs and went up to get them, and they followed me up because we were all going to go to lunch together. As we came back down the stairs the Elders with the keys had already locked up and left. Now, in any chapel I have seen in the United States, this is a very easy to fix problem. Push. Not here. We didn’t even have an accessible phone!! We laughed at first and then realized that the situation was actually pretty serious. We were locked in with no way out because there are caged doors if we manage to get through the glass. (We are in a rough neighborhood.) And the best part is that nobody was going to be using that chapel for a few days. The soonest someone would be coming in would have been Thursday. So, unless we got some help we were in for the long haul, or until someone realized we were missing and came looking for us. We were stuck inside for 7 hours. We went to a window that faced the street and yelled for help for 7 hours and we were literally and straight-faced ignored by over 100 people. Around 6:30 a man with his daughter was walking by and he would have ignored me too but I finally screamed in disbelief, "are you really going to ignore me, sir? Are you kidding me?!? I have been here for 7 hours!" and he came up to the gate of the chapel and said, "what do you want me to do?" It was really easy once somebody finally stopped to help. He used his cell phone and we were free 20 minutes later.

Anyway, it turns out that it was a good experience. It makes for a fun memory and I got to play the piano for a long time. There was a piano in the room we were screaming from and when people weren’t walking by I was playing. It was good. And I got to talk to my companions and it turned out to be a tender mercy for me. It is a long story that someday I may share, but, for now, suffice it to say that I really believe it was a tender mercy that the we were locked in there. The Lord knows what he is doing and sometimes to help a 20 year-old Elder he may need to lock him in with good companions to provide 7 hours of conversation time. It was agradable.

I am doing well and working hard. I am a good missionary. Despite what I say and how hard I am on myself, I know that the Lord is proud of me. He takes care of me and this is His work.

I am short on time today again. I love you all! Take care!!

Andy