In Maine, things are referred to as being “wicked-----------(something)” such as “It’s Wicked Icy so be careful when you walk” or these whoopee pies are wicked tasty and so on. So this week has been, in the Maine vernacular, Wicked Crazy.
After a very busy week digitizing, we went to a Missionary conference on Thursday. I feel very left out at these conferences because we are on a different mission than the young elders, but then I had my turn at these missionary conferences when I was in Japan 1970-1972. Just like the young missionaries on Thursday, we milled around and greeted other missionaries we had served with in different areas, asking questions about the members we had known in those former areas, catching up on news from the missionaries on their families’ etc.etc. and their doings in their new/former areas of labor.
The main theme of the conference was learning to listen to and experience the effect of the Holy Ghost in our lives and the lives of those who are investigating the teachings of the church. Sometimes we have difficulty listening to the still small voice due to the loudness of the activities surrounding us; This not a loudness of noise but rather a loudness of distractions that are available to us in all forms. None of us have TV in our apartments so that ‘loudness’ is not part of the problem. An example of the LOUDNESS could be the number of “scandal sheets” that are available at the store and the headlines that scream the latest outburst that you can read at the checkout counter. On a recent shopping trip I saw an extremely overweight lady in a ‘mart cart’ (a motorized shopping cart for the disabled) hand over her selections and casually I counted them as the clerk scanned them. There were 15 of these sorts of publications. I have no idea how much each costs, but I am sure that it was quite a chunk of change if we tallied it up. I stay away from the magazine section because I would be caught up with the quilting and paper crafts booklets etc. They are not very loud, but would take up quite a bit of my time and energy. The internet is also a loud voice and the headlines scream at us when we log on to MSN or Yahoo etc. The popup advertisements that also are on the sidelines catch our attention if we let them. All these distractions can drown out the still small voice of the Holy Ghost if we allow it.
The members of my ward, Augusta Ward, prepared the food for our lunch. They grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for us and served up potato salad and a pasta salad. The members supplied the desserts and we were all very ‘full’ when lunch was over.
The conference wrapped up at 4pm and we left the building to go home. We usually go home by taking the road that runs by the YMCA so as to avoid the traffic circle on State Street. On Thursday we did not take that turn but went through to the traffic circle and as we passed Gage Street, we noticed that the Fire truck had blocked off the street. One other time we were barred from taking this street, but that was due to a house fire. Thursday was different and we had no idea how different it was until this morning’s paper. (Yes, another distraction for sure) It appears that a Mulatto man from an apartment on Gage Street had some TATP that he had manufactured in his kitchen and was exploding it in the backyard. Some neighbors had become alarmed and had called the police and so the road was blocked off while explosive experts came into the area and confiscated the highly unstable material and caused it to explode in the back yard of the apartment. His French descent white live in girlfriend is noted in the paper as saying that he would never be involved in such stuff and certainly not in their apartment. However, as we read the news item further there is a listing of all the criminal offenses of this man and his jail time etc. and it is hard to believe his girlfriend’s assertion that he was not involved in this activity at all but rather it was the neighbors a few doors away who manufactured the explosive. The manager of the Pyro City Fireworks retail store said that this man had been in a number of times recently to buy fireworks. He was also noted to have been to the nearby RiteAid pharmacy and that he had in fact purchased the household chemicals needed to produce this substance, and the substance was discovered in the kitchen of the apartment where he lived with his girlfriend. TATP stands for triacetone triperoxide and can be manufactured with paint thinner, bleach or antiseptic and drain unblockers which gives a combination of acetone, hydrogen peroxide and Sulphuric acid and if mixed correctly forms a white substance that resembles sugar and is used in IED explosives made by the middle east terrorists in Iraq, and Afghanistan and other countries.
The really scary part of this whole story is that I often walk on this particular street while Bill is at the YMCA because I do not really like to be inside now that the weather is nicer and I will not freeze to death while out walking in the neighborhood. The homes that line this street are fairly nice – not too run down compared to other neighborhoods in Augusta and in their heyday they seem like they were very nice homes. It is now a mixed race neighborhood, but I felt safe walking on the street. Now I wonder if it is safe to be anywhere other than the dinky little track at the YMCA.
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