Comments on: Hey I’m Back! Did I Miss Anything?

By: gst

gst — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 04:38:55 +0000

I asked my dad, “Did I miss any good movies when I was gone?” He said, “No, not really. Oh wait, there was one. It’s called ‘Tommy Boy.’”

Also, before my mission, email was a rarity (though I did have a Prodigy account in the early 1990s). When I came back, email was a pretty standard fixture. Probably had something to do with Al Gore.

By: Bret

Bret — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 04:34:08 +0000

Ryan,

I think I remember you. I was in Gardena for 7 months and saw a lot of the elders there in the Torrance 3rd branch.

Yeah, I don’t think the 405 has been that empty since it was built! I less active in the ward in Lennox insisted I and my comp call home to help our families feel a little better after the day was over8p What a weird day and a weird turn of events since then!

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 19:52:46 +0000

Bret,

I was also serving in LA at the time… in the deaf district. Of course during that time I went by the moniker Elder Moore. I remember driving up the empty 405 fwy and thinking

“Wow, the 405 is empty during the morning commute? This is a miracle of Red Sea proportions”

By: Don Clifton

Don Clifton — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 16:35:29 +0000

I would have missed England winning the world cup…except I was there. We couldn’t teach, meet with people or talk about anything except the world cup. So being the good missionary I was, I watched it right along with our investigators…it was great!!

By: BrianJ

BrianJ — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 04:30:07 +0000

sorry, that should read “…on that event than…”

By: BrianJ

BrianJ — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 04:28:22 +0000

Interesting thought, everyone. It is sort of a “Sorry, I didn’t exist then” experience.

I was lucky enough to return home right before the OJ Simpson verdict. Suddenly everyone’s preparing for riots and I had no idea who he was!

I wonder about this question from a different perspective: are there some events that you view completely differently because they happened while you were a missionary? For example, I was in Brazil during the ‘94 World Cup, which was hosted in the US and won by Brazil. Not surprisingly, I have a different perspective on that even than most Americans.

By: Bret

Bret — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 04:05:37 +0000

Ryan stole mine before I could read this:) Though for me serving in L.A., (hard to miss much there!) 9/11 on the mission (the day before transfers, to make it more interesting) provided it’s own surreal experiences. But yeah, I don’t think it’s the same for us as everyone who could see it all unfold that day.
I was serving directly under LAX in Inglewood and Lennox, so it was weird enough to not hear planes roaring over our heads every two minutes.

Oh, and I missed both Sydney and Salt Lake Olympics and the whole 2000 election controversy.

By: Bookslinger

Bookslinger — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 00:36:21 +0000

Isn’t this a re-tread of the same thread elsewhere? I’m getting deja vu reading the above comments.

I was about 1/2 way into my mission. A new elder came into the mission. Almost the first thing I heard out of his mouth was “That Madonna is sooooo bitchin’.”

Ok, so it was a long time ago.

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 20:44:30 +0000

It’s funny how long two years can be and how so much can happen.

Ryan, that is one I hadn’t thought of, and, yes, it would be very strange to think you weren’t there with us in front or our TV’s watching it all unfold. Very interesting.

JKS, hilarious.

By: JKS

JKS — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 20:33:38 +0000

My husband missed the Milli Vanilli scandal. I think he’s still clueless about it.