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AJ sent the memory stick from his camera, and I now have circa 300 images from the lad. Based on a perusal of these images, I draw the following conclusions. First, there are those who suggest that a mission transforms a young man into a different creature, and that may be so. However, it is a process, and not an event, and many of AJ's "personality traits" are evident in these images.
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Who likes to be the center of attention? Perhaps the show-off perched atop the wall?
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Does this look like conservative missionary transportation?
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And the old question philosophers have debated throughout the ages: How many angels can dance on the end of a finger?
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And if this gentleman were to be converted, can you imagine what his baptism would be like?
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I have no details about the cause of this ouchie, but I would bet that impulsiveness played at least a small part. Note the chipped front tooth (from removing a thumbtack using the "biting" technique).
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Who do you suppose staged this?
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AJ doesn't have responsibility for the whole world, just the eternal fate of the inhabitants of the old town of Monroe rest on his shoulders.
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Obviously this work is being done with an eye single to the glory of God... (and perhaps Scuderia Ferrari Motor Company).
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The second conclusion I draw is that AJ really had been called to serve in the frigid Northwest where ...many are cold, but few are frozen...
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One picture is worth a thousand words.
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AJ's warm and heavy coat (supposably filled with goose down) was made in Vietnam. He bought another coat before the end of the first winter, suggesting that maybe those tricky Vietnamese substituted chopped chicken feathers.
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The beauty of this winter scene makes want to walk 15 miles while tracting...Not!
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Still, it is not all work. When you are young, snow can be fun to play in.
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It has been years since I have made a snow angel...
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And it will probably be decades before I will want to again...
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The thrid conclusion is that the mission has serious moments (but only a few of them lend themselves to photography).
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The fourth conclusion is that this mission has some large lads in its service (the scrawny one there is AJ).
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The fifth conclusion is that the significiant effort I invested instructing lad in the culinary arts may have been largely wasted.
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The sixth conclusion is that AJ may develop the eye of an artist... eventually.
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The last conclusion is that Bigfoot may be alive and living in the Northwest...
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