Footprints….

On this very dreary day, I am in a very dreary mood. I thought if I relived a funny moment in my life through the written word, it may just cheer me up….maybe…

This lovely weather takes me back to 1998. It was a very frumpy..I mean rainy missionary day in Carlsbad, CA. Despite the torrential downpour called El Nino, it goes against Missionary Law to not at least look like you are proselytizing, even if you don’t have a car.

So we pulled up our knee-highs, grabbed our overly clunky shoes and…..WHAT IS THAT SMELL?????

That would be my extra cheap, extra plastic-posing-as-leather shoes.

I had a genius idea-wouldn’t Tide be just as effective if not more than foot powder or baking soda?? It ought to take away the stench AND give them a nice “Mountain Breeze” scent! So, I took a scoop and put it in each of my shoes, rubbed it in like an S.O.S. pad, shook it around and dumped it out, all the while thinking about my amazing intelligence and problem-solving skills.

My companion and I headed out, ready to bring souls unto Christ through our sacrifice and soggy jumpers. We walked to the home of one of our ‘golden’ contacts to check in on her-it was about a 15-20 minute walk and, surprisingly, she wasn’t home. After being sufficiently drenched and our first attempt of the day at saving souls one mortal at a time was unsuccessful, we officially called it a day. At least until “The Hurricane of Adversarial Fiery Darts” ceased.

We figured since we were already “The Soggy Bottomed Sisters” we would go watch the angry shoreline as we walked along the sea wall along Pacific Highway 1. We got half way down the highway when I looked down at my feet. My awesomely fashionable and cheap shoes were foaming at the mouth and every seam possible! There was a trail of sudsy footprints behind me! I tried kicking puddles to wash it away but it just got worse! My companion and I were laughing so hard we could’ve peed our pants but not even know it!

We finally got to the corner where we turn for our street when I realized my name tag had gone AWOL. We JOYFULLY turned back for that all important piece of identification and found it about a half a mile back!

We made the soapy trek back to our home and since my shoes were apparently out of commission, I don’t remember getting a whole lot more done that day aside from side-splitting laughter!

I, of course, shared this story in my next letter to my family and my mom, of course, shared it with anyone she could including her Gospel Doctrine class! About a month later (yes, I was still wearing the same shoes and no, Tide did not take care of the stink!!) I got a call from a woman in the Carlsbad Stake who happened to be the step-mom of Sis. Peterson in my home ward. She had heard the story from her daughter, tracked me down and told me she wanted to take me out to replace my sudsy shoes! She bought both my companion and I each a pair of Doc. Marten’s shoes (which were all the rage with the sister missionaries-they go soooo well with those Nude knee highs!!)!! Those puppies lasted the rest of my mission and never once did I need to treat them with Tide!!

The moral of the story?

1- Tide should NEVER be used as an odor-eater in your shoes!!

2-Sacrifice really does bring blessings…or at least a nice pair of shoes!

My Brother, Mike Thomas' rendition of "Sister Bubbles"