Monday, June 3, 2024

Monday, June 3, 2024

• Frustrating Day trying to get some things done
• Eli my grandson called wanting me to tell him the story of Swish-pop
• The story behind Swish-pop
• Near death scouting experience

We did a bunch of running around today, and almost everything we did, didn't work out. 

First we had a companion study and we planned out a few things that we wanted to accomplish. We read from Helaman 12:1 and it talks about how the members were encouraged to put their trust in God. Anyway this sounded like a good topic for a 5th Sunday lesson that we have this month. We'll see, sometimes you think you have a good idea and then you get other ideas later and change it. 

The other thing we worked on was an activity for the young adults. We ended up planning a game activity with a short lesson. We are working on a flyer. The cul-de-sac elders came over (Burnett and Sandberg) and they said they would make the flyer. It will be for young adults 18-35. Normally it would be for 18-30, but we have Corey and he is 33 and I know he will want to come. 

After that we went up to Rodney bay. My phone which is supposed to auto renew every month did not. We went to Digicel which is who I have my phone service through. They can't figure it out and they said they couldn't activate it anyway because their system was down. That was a bit frustrating because I can't use my phone. 

So we stopped by the Auto body place to get an evaluation on our truck and get a formal estimate on what it would cost to fix it. They couldn't complete the evaluation until this afternoon.

The autobody shop

So we went to the bank to get money out to repay some that Tina loaded me from the mission fund, because she had cash and I was picking up a can of propane for a member the other day and the place only took cash. Anyway when we got there I didn't have the church credit card. Tina had taken it on Saturday to buy some stuff for our service project at Darren Barbe's home. So that was also frustrating.

We did get some white board markers and ping-pong ball, which was also on our list. We went back home. I have a bunch of receipts that I needed to record and Tina needed to go to Castries to submit some missionary paperwork. So she went by her self and I stayed home and worked on receipts. 

Tina got back before I was done. Processing church receipts is very time consuming, at least for me. Anyway, we needed to go back and get the quote from the Autobody place, get some cash and pick up some AA batteries for the cordless mic and the AC remotes at the church. Well we got to the bank and for some reason it would not give me any money so we will have to come back. We did get the autobody paperwork and the batteries though.

We came home and I finished my receipts and we had dinner. Our grandson Eli called us to see if I would tell him the story of Swish-pop which has become a family classic. Depending on the age and the night out camping it can be pretty scary for a little kid. Eli is only 5. I guess Makenzie was trying to tell him the story and couldn't remember it all. I was told the story on a scout trip by Rex Hoyt when I was 12. I guarantee it scared the heck out of me on that camp out. I remember another scout who was a year older than me was pretty scared. Rex kept saying swish-pop in a scary and long tone and Dale Ballard, the boy who was a year older than me, just kept saying "Shut up Rex" in the meanest tone a 13 year old could come up with. Rex was probably 15 or 16. I think he came as a leader. Anyway it was one of the longest nights I have every spent out on a campout. It didn't help that we found some bear track on the road by our camp.

I have told that story, at least my version of it many times on camp outs since. Everyone always wants to hear it, but there are some that are always scared to death and don't want to go to bed. 

I also remember on that camping trip I almost drowned. There was a pond at the place we camped. It was called the Thurston Ranch. Anyway, we went swimming the next day and I was swimming and got tangled up in weeds that were around the edge of the pond. I couldn't get out and I was by myself. I was about to give out because I was so tired and I yelled for help. Fortunately someone heard me and swam over with an innertube and saved my life. It was almost as scary as the Swish-pop story the night before. I did think I was a goner.