By Popular Demand

This is the abridged and lightly edited (because I hate misspellings) conversation I mentioned earlier this week (copied and pasted from AIM logs):

lanoitarus: you really want to do this insanity huh
lanoitarus: why
areagar: because i believe in what i'll be teaching
areagar: i believe in the power the church's doctrines have to change lives
lanoitarus: i dont believe you
lanoitarus: i dont buy that shit for a second
lanoitarus: its too canned an answer
lanoitarus: all the time ive known you youve never given a canned answer and meant it
areagar: i'm doing it because i was sitting in my apartment one day watching hotel rwanda and thinking of joining the peace corps and god said to me "go on a mission"
lanoitarus: and then god said unto you, thous must count to three, three being the number thou shalt count...
areagar: you didn't want my canned answer
areagar: i'm just telling you how it happened
lanoitarus: i like it a bit better
lanoitarus: it has always seemed to me that the true purpose of missions is less to convert other people than to super-convert the missionaries themselves
lanoitarus: and while i can see why that would appeal to you
lanoitarus: it doesnt seem like a very good reason to spend 18 months who knows where
lanoitarus: i just dont frankly see why you would
areagar: the first time i can remember my dad ever hugging me was february 2001
areagar: the first time i ever remember my dad telling me he loved me, saying the words, was may 2003
areagar: whether i am right or wrong, i have long attributed my dad's improvement as a father and as a person to two things: his assignment as a bishop and the opening of the boston temple, both in fall 2000
areagar: i believe his work in the church changed him
areagar: i believe his weekly visits to the temple over the past 7 years have changed him
areagar: the same has happened to me in the past year
areagar: my last answer for why i am going on a mission: i like the temple
areagar: i wish everyone could go to the temple
areagar: so i guess i want people to become mormon so they can go to the temple
lanoitarus: i dunno what to say to that one
lanoitarus: glad youre doing what you want to do