Posted by:
cludgie
(
)
Date: January 13, 2017 10:16AM
When I was on my mission in Italy in the late 1960s (only one mission back then, officially designated "The Great Italian Mission" by Hartmon Rector), Thomas Ass Monson regularly passed through. Monson was responsible for Italy, and for years used Italy as a staging place to speak with Greek authorities about allowing LDS missionaries to preach in Greece (which took 20 years, and has yet to produce Greek Mormons). Besides, both Florence (old mission HQ) and Rome (new mission HQ) offered good tourism and shopping experiences for senior Mormon leaders, who availed themselves of every opportunity to pass through, live at the mission home, and have bespoke suits tailored. So during one of Monson's visits, local missionaries were invited to the mission home to dine with Monson and feed off the crumbs of his Great Wisdom. But the only thing he said worth remembering was, "I have two hunting dogs that I keep and feed and train all year long for just one thing, a two-day pheasant hunting season. The season begins today, and I'm stuck here."
It sounded dismissive, but he turned out to be right. Missing pheasant hunting season for Mormonism is just not worth it, and neither is missing even a day without the company of your dogs.