So that’s why Mormon missionaries are such babe-magnets!

I guess this Axe commercial is the real deal.  They didn’t get the name tag quite right and I must ask: just where is this elder’s companion?  But they did make the slogan at the end look a lot like the church’s logo, plus I think I made out a Book of Mormon for a split second .  The clip is pretty funny. Plus I just love the song.  It will probably make some people mad, but then again, a lot of us Mormons could stand to get a sense of humor about ourselves.  

Unfortunately, as any missionary or RM can attest, this effect is all too real (no Axe Body Spray needed).  Ironically, many of the missionaries in my mission used Axe religiously (pun definitely not intended).  Probably because it is relatively cheap (missionaries have tight budgets) but strong enough to cover up the hard day’s worth of smell that is inevitable after walking through the heat and humidity of the Philippine Islands.

Good Friday Crucifixion Rituals in The Philippines

I saw this video today and I was instantly taken back to, and flooded with memories of, the first week of my mission. Nine years ago this week I got off the plane in the Philippines and began my service as a missionary there. This is one of the first things I saw when I arrived. This is a ritual that reenacts Christ's suffering. Many of the participants believe that by experiencing the same pain that Christ suffered they lessen the pain that he had to feel. By suffering his pain they take upon themselves a portion of his burden. When you see it this way the ritual is quite beautiful, though strange to us foreigners.

[Warning the video is "news graphic," not any more gory than what is normally shown on the news but a little disturbing nonetheless.]



This ritual is one of many aspects of Catholicism that have been combined with the indigenous beliefs of the islanders. The patron saints now hold the places of the "heathen" gods in countless other festivals and ceremonies. The nearly seamless graft of these two belief systems is a sociological marvel. My favorite such celebration is John the Baptist Day. On this day a bunch of teenagers, mostly, run through the streets with buckets of water dowsing everyone they can. Their favorite targets are the crowded, windowless busses and jeepneys where the hapless passengers have no chance of escape.

The little branch I served in also also engaged in their own culturural grafting. They had an Easter egg hunt for the kids (something that is not widely practiced there) but used hard-boiled quail eggs instead of candy filled plastic ones.

I can't believe it has been nine years since then.