La Busqueda Part 1: The Californians

There’s this skit that SNL does called The Californians.  The whole thing is meant to be based off of the soap opera dramas based in California.  They do the whole skit in California accents and everything.  Like anything else stupid, its so good cause its quotable.  The recurring theme of the skit is dodgy scenes being interrupted by unexpected visitors.  The first one starts with the wife seeing the husband home earlier than expected and she’s just like, “Stewart!? What are you doing here?”  Sometimes as I’m walking in Jerusalem I just feel like looking at myself and saying “uhhh…What are you doing here?” in that California accent. 

Today I was just walking around thinking about how I don’t belong.  Not necessarily in the Middle East culture, but rather with my very own peers.  I assume everyone gets that case of middle school fever every once in a while.  Me di cuenta hoy que no soy de la misma demographic as todos los demas de mi grupo.  Mis principios humildes son re diferente que la mayoría de mis compañeros que tienen padres que finanzan por lo menos una porción de sus actividades. I shouldn’t be here. No tengo nada.

Despues de volver hace algunas anos ahora del servicio, todavía no tengo la habilidad de facilitar mis finanzas como antes. La razón?  I think it has to do with my lifestyle.   I’ve been trying vivir la vida de un misionero sin la abundancia de plata que fluye de arriba.  So how do I fix that?  I guess thats the reason I’ll be in Provo instead of Mexico this Summer.  That still doesn’t answer the original question: “Ben, what are you doing here?” Maybe I can get a soap opera out of the ordeal before I find out the answer…