For My Nearest And Dearest

So. Hear I am. Back in Utah. Again. How many times have I tried to flee this land only to be sucked back into the vortex of its quirky and sometimes irksome eccentricities?

At least this time it isn't for permanent. Yes, for those of you who aren't close enough to me to have heard in person, I am now preparing to serve a mission in Korea. And when I say mission, I am of course invoking a wee bit of sardonic pleasure. I am going to teach English at a school there for a year. I suppose it's missionesque in that there is a very small chance that I will return to the states during my time there, and due to the fact that its another foreign country. In every other aspect it is markedly not the same. And if there turn out to in fact be any other striking similarities, I will use every fiber of my being to undo those circumstances.

This time, I will be paid for services rendered. That feels right. This time I will have my very own apartment. This time I will work 8 hour days, with paid overtime. This time I will not have a companion (and if I do it most definitely will be someone I choose, and I can promise you it will not be Elder Christianianainainsen from Orem, Utah). This time I will drink beer. This time I will stay out at late as suits me. This time I will not report nightly stats to a pimple-faced task-master on a power trip because he was just made a zone leader at 6 months in. This time I will have weekends off. This time I will travel around and see the real sights. This time I will talk to my friends and family when I deem it so. This time I will do video chats with my nearest and dearest (you know who you are). This time I will play the music that makes my soul rejoice. This time I will not look at an EFY CD, and if one somehow crosses my path, I will rain down upon it with the fiery blue darts of the adversary. This time I will make friends, not investigators. This time I will embrace the beauty of the culture in all its forms. This time I will not be beholden to an oppressive paradigm that suffocates and confuses my intellect.

Painting a picture for you?

Don't get me wrong, I took away many great things from my mission experience. Mostly I met great people and made great friends who still love me and want me to be happy, whatever form that takes. And I learned things about myself that I don't think I ever would have otherwise, at least not for a lifetime. And I learned Spanish.

But now I'm my own person. I may not be any wiser, any smarter, or any more of anything (accept in debt) than I was back then, but I am confident in who I am now. I am at peace with myself and my decisions.

And so, once more into the breach I go, seemingly alone, but with support of those I care for.

And this time, of course, you're all welcome to visit.