What Happens at Our House When the Missionaries Come to Dinner

We had the missionaries over for dinner Friday night. They were very nice, albeit shy, Elders. We ended up feeding them our version of Carl's Jr.'s guacamole burger. They cleaned their plates, but I don't know if that's because the food was good or because they were missionaries. :)

Anyway, the rest of the fun happened after I left. I had a baby shower that night and so I had to skip out when they were still here. When I got home from the shower that night Ben had some great stories for me.

Our friendly little guy, Carter, was chatting with Elder Funbanana. No, of course his name wasn't really Elder Funbanana, but his last name was Polynesian, and I couldn't pronounce it, let alone spell it.

"How old are you," asked Carter of Elder Funbanana.

"I'm 19," Elder Funbanana replied.

"Do you think you'd like to go on a mission when you're 19," Ben questioned Carter.

"Yeah, I think I would," said Carter. They continued to talk while the boys played in and out of the conversation. Later on Carter came back in the kitchen and exclaimed to the Elders, "Well, at least you're not gone for two years!"

"Actually," replied Elder Funbanana, "we are gone for two years."

At this point Carter walked up to Ben, and with tear-filled, milk-chocolate brown eyes and a very sad face he said, "I think I've changed my mind."

Seeing Carter's teary face Ben swallowed a chuckle and said, "Don't worry about it now. You don't need to stress."

"I'm OK," Carter said, wiping his face. "My eyes are just sweating."

After Carter left the room, Elder Funbanana said, "Apparently, I'm not doing a very good job as a missionary if I've only been out for four months and I've already convinced somebody NOT to go on a mission."

I tell you, I don't know what I would do without Carter and Riley and Melanie and their comic relief.

Carter wasn't the only one up to antics last night. Riley had his own little play going on. He was so tired yesterday when they were here. He wasn't doing his usual get-all-hyped-up-when-I'm-tired routine. He was more on the everything-makes-me-cry path. He would start crying about anything and then would look at the missionaries and say, "They keep staring at me!" start crying even harder, and then duck his head under the table. He'd stop for a few seconds, peek up over the table, then proclaim, "They're still starting at me!" start crying again, and duck back under the table.

At least we gave them some good stories for laughs when they report on their missions when they get home, right?