Like being pureed in a blender.

Our first full day of classes included a spiritual setting for 30 minutes and then the teachers were invited to come and take us to our class rooms.  In these class rooms we are being taught how to explain the teachings of the church to anyone who asks what we are doing as missionaries - and for Bill and I, especially people with whom we come in contact as genealogy missionaries.
It is intense - I think we are sometimes studying for the BIG FINAL.  It is exacting and you have to get it right but this happens not without much laughter.  The teachers are young men and women in their 20's and the missionaries (us) are all in our Autumnal Years and have much experience and are totally committed to this work in which we are involved.
In our study group we have a couple who were born in Korea but have lived in the USA for over 30 years;  another couple have both been teachers in grade school as a career.  The fourth couple have been in professional life and I think that they are older than Bill and I.  In this small group we get to know each other pretty well and I appreciate all the life experiences these other people have had - it adds to my range of knowledge each time they speak.  The only thing I am sure of is that the teacher is a twenty-something and the rest of us are at least 40-50 years older than him.  There is something to be said for experience.
At the end of the day, yesterday, one of the church leaders came down from Salt Lake to address the group. The room where we meet is a multi purpose room.  Yesterday afternoon it was multiple basket ball courts for the younger missionaries to let off steam, and by the evening, it had been set up as an auditorium with the bleachers being pulled out, extra chairs set up and an Organ and piano appearing from thin air (or so it seems).  Elder Russell M. Nelson addressed us on the historical aspects of the progression of the Book of Mormon from the hand written first manuscripts as Joseph Smith translated it and his scribe wrote it down in long hand to the editions we have today with all the footnotes and references.  It was an interesting talk.
We left the auditorium after the talk and decided that we would go use the laundry facilities.  Well, the place was deserted.  The young missionaries were in language classes after the event at the auditorium and we wondered if it was ok for us to use the facility.  We took our homework with us and were sitting down to do that while waiting for the wash to be done and two young elders came in to raid the vending machine.  One was a Tahitian from Laie, Oahu, Hawaii and the other was a Maori from Hamilton, New Zealand.  Some young sisters came in looking for the peds that one of them accidentally left there.  I looked in the lost and found and was amazed at the underwear, shirts and other personal items that were in the basket.  How do people do that?  If I lost even one article of clothing I brought with me, I would be sorely disadvantaged.  I brought barely enough clothing to last the two weeks and even then I have to wash a couple of times so that I will remain fully clothed.  Weight of suitcases is a real problem when we go by air.
While we were in the laundry room, the Pa system announced that it was 10.15pm and the lights out rule takes effect at 10.30pm.  We grabbed our stuff and were on the way to our dormitory when we ran into a security guard.
My first words were, "Oh, We're busted!"  He laughed and said, "I won't tell if you don't!" and went on his way.