Disobedient Missionary Dream

Dream starts off in a large building.  Jon and I are going to a concert (classical- or closer to that style than a rock concert) in a new building.  Everyone enters in at the same door and there aren’t clear signs.  We are kinda wandering around.  We have seats that are close to front and center but off to the left side when looking at the stage.  We wander through hallways and finally find a staircase with someone who is dressed up (looks like they’re there for the concert) and coming up that staircase.  So we ask him if there’s a door down there.  (yes, down.  For some reason, this building you enter in at ground level, but also, close to the top floor of the building- there is one more level but no one enters the theater from the top two levels- the whole theater is under ground in this building.)  He says there is only one door down there and it’s for limited sections- something like section 420-426.  It’s getting late and the concert is about to start and we’re desperate.  We look down at our tickets and… we’re section 425!  I remember heading down the stairs- they’re open, and cross back with mirrors on the walls in places to make the space look spacious.  I don’t remember going more than a few steps on the stairs… but we had to go down several flights of stairs.  Then I remember seeing the inside of the theater- a mix between the MAC at IU and the Conference Center in Salt Lake at Temple Square. 

Then dream skip.  Jon and I are in a crowd.  It’s supposed to be before the concert, or at least not the end- maybe intermission.  Everyone is crowding towards these velvet wrapped turnstiles, and the outside part is gold and burgundy- the burgundy matches the velvet part.  Because everyone is crowding towards these turnstiles it feels like we’re rushing to get out through them, but we weren’t trying to get out (maybe we had left during intermission and were trying to get back in?)  Anyways, brief sidetrack coming up shortly.  We see an Elder we know from Church.  Let’s call him Elder Smith and Elder Johnson is his companion.  Now mission rules- 1- you never leave your companion (unless you are assigned a new companion or on an authorized split).  2- You are always a representative of Christ and wear appropriate clothes and nametag at all times.  Usually appropriate clothes means church dress- but when serving or playing a sport, other clothes are allowed as the approved activities permit- but never without the nametag.  3- You don’t view entertainment- your job is to serve the Lord, not pursue worldly pursuits (worthy world pursuits or not).  So being at a concert- even an uplifting classical concert is against the rules.  4- You are in your apartment for the night at 9 pm unless you are teaching a gospel lesson and then you can be out til 9:30.  Whatever this concert was- I felt like he was breaking this rule too… So maybe it was a later concert, or a long one and it was past 9 or 9:30?  5- You don’t leave your assigned area.  This concert was supposed to be on IU Campus- and I knew the Elders’ area ended before you reached downtown Bloomington.  So back on track.  We see this Elder Smith- without his companion Elder Johnson.  We temporarily start pushing sideways through the crowd to reach him.  He was dressed in brown pants, a t shirt and suspenders with a jacket and a hat.  No nametag.  When we got to him I was surprised and said, “Elder, where is your companion?  I’m very disappointed in you.”  This Elder loves Jon and I- so basically we have a good relationship with him and he’s a good friend.  He looks a little ashamed and says, “I got permission to come to this without him because we had a fight.”  Not true.  You are supposed to settle your differences and learn to work things out.  If you have a problem with them you can stop talking to them, go to the other side of the room… if it’s serious enough sometimes one person will be ‘emergency transferred’ and both will be assigned new companions- all the while no one is left alone.  I remember telling him I didn’t buy it and we were going to take him home.  Now Elder Smith wasn’t a small elder and now all of a sudden an even bigger guy comes up next to him with short spiked lighter brown hair and says, “I’m his cousin.  And I think he has every right to be here with me.”  Now his cousin, obviously did not respect staying obedient to mission rules or serving a faithful mission.  We talked some more with Elder Smith and his new-found cousin- new to Jon and I anyways.  His cousin I guess was attending IU and was not a missionary and never had been.  Anyways, we talked and we could not get Elder Smith home to Elder Johnson.

Another dream skip.  It’s morning and Elder Smith has a doctor’s appointment.  I want to say it was supposed to be a dental appointment because that would explain my confusion that happens later.  Anyways, we are at my apartment.  Jon is going to pick up Elder Johnson and going to bring him to the doctor’s office so the companions can be together again.  Jon and I are the only ones who know that that’s what is happening.  Everyone else thinks he’s going to work or something.  So Jon leaves.  I am left trying to get several people into my car.  There is Elder Smith and his cousin and then this guy Christian who is really tall and was a good friend of mine when I lived at Belmont in Utah.  Then there was a friend of the cousin who was just a little bit smaller than the cousin.  Then Professor Maximillion Arturo (from a TV show called “Sliders”.  He was in character of that tv show, so I am not looking up his real name because he was the character in my dream.)  Then I had one of my sisters with me- possibly Katie.  Anyways, it seems like all of them had spent the night at Jon and my apartment for the night.  The cousin and friend and Elder Smith all had white ties and decided to wake up early and spray-paint their white ties.  Apparently we had a green spray paint- close to a lime green.  So they spread out newspaper and were sitting outside my front door when Jon left and were spray painting their ties.  (Their ties were already tied around their necks and so they would spray paint towards their face with eyes closed, then pause and look at their tie and figure out where needed more color.)  Anyways, they were so busy with their project that they said they couldn’t leave yet and I was getting annoyed because we were making Elder Smith late and it was that much longer that Elder Smith and Johnson would be apart.  So, I picked up a spray can and went to spray a tie and the cousin said, “Hold on, you’ll get my shirt!”  So he grabbed a piece of cloth that I didn’t want to ask where he got it from and placed it under the tie and on top of his shirt and let me spray.  So I finished spray-painting his tie and went to help the next guy.  (I for some reason could spray paint faster than they could- maybe because they closed their eyes every time and now that I’m awake, they were acting a little slow and a little high- maybe from the spray paint fumes in their face.  I had told them all to get in the car.  I don’t remember actually helping finish the other tie.  I remember looking towards my car which I had unlocked encouraging them to get in it.  And my friend Christian- who I did not like very much in my dream was sitting in the front seat, thinking it was funny and we should go to Disneyland instead of the doctor’s appointment.  I remember dragging Christian out of the front seat (I don’t think I’m strong enough to do that in real life) and telling him I didn’t care if he came or not, but if he wanted to, he better find another seat.  My sister was in the passenger seat.  So that left 5 guys to get into the car- all BIG guys.  They do start piling in the car, but slowly.  I got Elder Smith in and I said, I was going to be starting up the car and I wasn’t waiting for anyone.  He was the only one I cared about and that needed to go to the doctor’s appointment anyways, and we were pretty late.  So three big guys end up smashed in the back seat and I tell the last two that I’m leaving and they’ll have to hurry if they want to climb into the trunk.  The 2 that were left were the Professor and I think the friend.  The Professor was actually on my side and trying to encourage them all to get into the car- the problem was, he kept on using vocabulary and language that the rest just couldn’t understand.  And he analyzed too much for their liking.  So everyone ended up in the car and we started going.  I’m speeding, trying to make up some time.  Jon calls and asks where I’m at, I tell him that we’re on our way and I’m going as fast as I can.  Then he sends me a text saying he saw Anna there and that she was being nice and helpful.  Now Anna is my best friend and works sometimes with a Plastic Surgeon.  Enter confusion for the dental office trip.  But now that I’m awake, there was a time when she did work in a dentist office….  So maybe that makes sense except in the text I got in my dream, I got the impression that the Plastic Surgeon- Anna’s significant other was the one doing the appointment.  Anyways, after I got this text I see a child run out into the road to grab something- I didn’t see the what- a ball, a cat, a baby….  Anyways, I swerved and missed and kept going and now I’m scanning up ahead and about a mile up I see many people/children crossing the street.  I start braking….  There’s so much weight in my car that my car is not really braking.  I am almost slamming on the brakes the whole mile and still have not slowed down sufficiently to stop behind the crosswalk where people are crossing.  It’s a school crosswalk, and the cross guard is yelling at me to stop.  Saying there’s kids and it’s a stop sign and I would’ve had to stop anyways and that I’m an idiot.  At this point I’m like, I didn’t plan on stopping like this…  I pushed all the way into the crosswalk, though I was going slower then.  I HAD been trying to stop- for a mile.  My car was simply not used to that much weight.  Anyways, after being yelled at, the kids finally finished crossing and I was able to go again, except my car had had it.  So I had to reach down with my hand and start pushing.  I had everyone near a window help.  We were going pretty slow but managed to go a few blocks like that.  Then we pass this mini village.  It’s HUGE.  It was all tiny trees and landscaped to look like acres because of how small it was but was just a block.  There was a round pavilion that had a walkway leading to it that came up to the fence by the street.  It was all held up above a valley and looked picturesque.  I tried following the walkway, looking for a house it connected with, but it went on for a while and the trees became more dense. 

Brain haze- not exactly a skip.  We’re now walking by this mini village thing.  It’s like a model for something huge.  So we’re walking along.

Brain skip- back in the car.  I get a phone call from my cousin Amanda.  She’s at the doctor’s office and helping her Dad prep for the surgery for our elder.  Her Dad does dental work- but like root canals and bridgework- only the bigger dental stuff.  He’s an oral surgeon.  She asks if we’re almost there and then starts asking questions and starts catching up on life.  Then she passes the phone to her Mom.  For some reason I feel like she has just visited Bloomington- I think Amanda lives in Bloomington with us.  Anyways, she starts seeing what we’re up to- Jon and I.  And then I ask when she leaves and say we should get together- any family in town.  She says she leaves in 1 minute.  I was surprised.  1 minute?  But Amanda was at the doctor’s office with Jon, and she handed the phone to her Mom… and if her Mom left in 1 minute, she must be at the airport…  Confusion, then brain haze and it now makes sense that they’re at the airport.  Anyways I get off the phone with them and now we’re back to walking again.

We’re passing a bunch of wooden sculptures.  They are a little abstract, but some look like people and lots look like sets of animals.  I realize it’s someone’s idea of Noah’s Ark.  I find a sign that says something about Noah being there and I think it’s supposed to be the take-off site.  Like where he built the ark and loaded up the animals.  So they had this spot decorated with a wooden ark that you can go see, and an artist’s rendition of all the animals and the people.  It’s a large plot of land and you can walk all around the sculpted pieces.  While walking by I get a phone call from my Mom.  She says we’re supposed to meet up at some “store/museum” place that has to do with this ancient guy.  (Meet up to give Katie back, or whoever had been with me).  Example- Goliath from the Old Testament and it’s a section where they have replicas of things relating to him, like a museum, but also things to purchase.  It’s not Goliath though- it’s closer to a Greek God who was made famous by a certain author.  Because the location we’re looking for is a good famous guy’s name and an author’s name.   The doorway will be labeled like a book spine with the name of the person and the author’s name. 

Anyways I hang up with my Mom and another Dream skip.  I’m still passing Noah’s Ark.  My Mom called, but now, all the guys are gone and all my sisters are with my except Julie- who is supposed to be with my Mom.  So now we’re looking for this location and even in my dream I can’t fully remember the name anymore.  It’s like a mall of museum type shops.  The main walkway is open and reminds me of pictures I’ve seen of Greece for some reason- but I’ve never been there, so that could be a wrong comparison.  Many stores are inter-connected but the biggest ones meet up with this walkway.  Far out in the distance from this main walkway is open sky and I know we’re near the ocean, or a sea.  We pass a store/museum called “Anak” with an author’s name.  The author’s name is the same, so we enter, hoping they’re connected.  Inside there’s a voice over the intercom saying that there are museums and aquariums and other amusements that are all included with our pass to wherever we are.  We head down a staircase and enter a different area- same author but different name again.  I still don’t think it’s the right name.  So we keep going.  There’s a rock roof above our heads and a railing to our side, but the air is open and we catch a glimpse of the sea.  Some of the stores are built on top, and others are built into the side of this cliff, going down to the water’s edge.  We enter another store, and down another staircase- this one, not right next to the sea, but as we get to the bottom we see my Mom and three guys and my sister Julie and a store behind them with windows back out to the sea.  Carly recognizes one of the guys as a guy named Dan.  Apparently in my dream, he tried dating me but I turned him down because of his name (too many Dan’s in the family already) and he was short.  But Carly became friends with him.  He did try to date Carly too.  Carly turned him down a bit nicer and they stayed friends.  I think my Mom was trying to play matchmaker for Carly and Cassie.  Dan was along because he was one of Carly’s best friends.  I think.  Maybe he was going for Cassie or Katie?  Anyways, a guy next to Dan spoke up.  He looked familiar and he asks me a question, “Where’s Jon?  I was hoping to see him again.”  The other two guys piped in saying they really liked him and were hoping we could all hang out.  My Mom was surprised that they knew Jon and I was too.  I thought we had planned to get together and it didn’t work out… but they remembered Jon.  All three of them- and I had no clue who the third guy was, but apparently he knew Jon too.  Anyways, I remember thinking I didn’t know where Jon was but he was supposed to meet up with me sometime- though I couldn’t remember when/where…  I woke up.

Maybe my brain knew I was supposed to go to the doctor’s office to meet up with Jon.  I had forgotten the elders at Noah’s Ark and found my other sisters instead and just left.  Anyways, that’s the end to my dream. 

"Speeding" Ticket

So I had a dream where I was driving to somewhere. I was getting on the freeway (speed limit of 65) and had reached 45 mph when a cop turns on their sirens behind me and pulls me over. I panicked like I usually do, wondering what I did wrong, but this time really confused because I wasn't even slightly speeding and I couldn't be pulled over for going to slow as I was still on the ramp to enter the freeway. So I pull over and the cop says, "Driver's license and registration please." In a firm voice that may have said please but meant it as an order. The cop is a female with darker brown hair, curled under at her shoulder. I get the information out and ask her why she pulled me over.... Her reply: "Well, you know how it is. It's the end of the month and I haven't reached my quota.." and I say, " but I wasn't speeding or anything" and she responds with, "Oh, I know you weren't doing anything wrong. But I haven't reached my quota" I don't remember any more from the dream, but what??? And why would I dream about that?

Creepy Staring

So, this last week I had a lot of weird dreams. Small ones that I remember, but it started with the creepy dream. I was in a parking lot and there was a girl with light brown hair and really big round eyes. She was staring off into the woods (there were a lot of trees anyways on one side of the parking lot). She had this creepy look about her and I wondered what was so frightening in the woods that made her stop like a deer in headlights. Another lady showed up near me and I turned to her and asked her if she knew who the girl was. The lady responded and said, "That's not a girl, that's a creature". Seemed odd to me, she definitely looked like a person, not some animal creature. I talked to the lady for a little while, nothing else important was said, and the girl staring was always in my mind. I said good-bye to the lady and proceeded over to my car, deciding not to care about the staring girl anymore. I took my keys out, unlocked the car, got in the car. Leaned over to put my purse in the passenger seat and came back to a normal sitting position with keys in my hand, ready to start the car, and the staring girl was no longer at the end of the parking lot, but right outside my driver's side window. She didn't say anything, and she didn't move to get into the car but just stared at me with her frightened, but also creepy gaze. I remember waking up and remembering thinking about running her over. For some reason in my dream she was not only creepy but a threat somehow and I can't remember why. I hadn't decided to run her over but thought about speeding off, and then wondered if that would be enough to get away....

Embarrassing and Taxes

Alright, so have you ever had a dream where you weren't fully dressed and you were embarrassed?  That's what most of my dream was.  So first off, in my dream, my husband and I live in a house where the front door opens into a living room with a bathroom off to the side and a staircase behind the bathroom, only partially seen from the front door.  Now, in my dream, we were getting ready to have some married fun and I was half undressed when my husband needed to go to the bathroom.  Then someone knocked on the door.  I went to check the door (half-dressed).  I'm unlocking the door after looking through the peep-hole when I realize that I'm not properly dressed.  The guy at the door is supposed to be my husband's single friend.  My husband and I are very much ourselves in my dream, but this guy is almost exactly, McSteamy from Grey's Anatomy, except he's Mormon and just a flirt and now going after one girl and comes over often because he's friends with my husband and/or for dating advice.  So, when I realize I'm only partially dressed I finish unlocking the door and yell through the door to wait a minute before coming in and I'll yell to him when he can come in.  For some reason I needed the bathroom my husband was using to change, so I grabbed a robe instead and I remember a black slip not being fully covered at the bottom and I figure, maybe he won't think I'm naked underneath now, and I'll change when my husband gets out of the bathroom.  So I yell for him to come in.  It's close to dinner time and he's hungry, so we feed him and we have a whole turkey leg (one that my Grandma told us about last night before going to bed) and he asked if he could bring it to a "Break the Fast" and that the girl he liked would be there.  We talked to him for a bit and then we had another call/visitor.

My Visiting Teaching companion lived next door (my current Visiting Teaching Companion, I don't know if she was in my dream or not but we were friends).  She was going to a dance with a guy, and knew I liked dances.  She invited me to come so I could give my approval of this guy who was taking her and she asked if I could come over soon.  For some reason I still haven't gotten dressed.  Well I had an adult sized plastic jeep thing- like the kids cars but I fit in it.  And I'm driving in this jeep from my backyard and when I get to the front yard, I think, "Man!  I still haven't put a shirt on....."  So, there was a hardcover book in the car and I took that and laid across the most important parts.  You could still see bare shoulders and a bare back that would suggest maybe I didn't have a shirt on, and it was super embarrassing, but for some reason I wasn't thinking clearly in my dream.  So I went over to her house and as I pulled into her garage and thought I was almost safe except my friend, her sister and a guy gets out of a car.  I'm doing my best, standing now, to cover everything.  Her sister helps me in and I find my friend.  I finally ask her for a shirt and am finally comfortable for the rest of the dream. 

I don't remember when or how but we end up in New York and my husband and I are in a restaurant and he's paying the bill.  Outside I see a friend.  In my dream she looks exactly like my best friend, but in my dream it's a different name and we met somewhere different.  Anyways, she's with a group of girls who I am also friends with in the dream.  I run outside to talk to her and yell her name.  We're in an alleyway and she starts looking scared and gets me standing in front of a wall (not pushed up against) and is like, "Keep your voice down!  Someone might hear you say my name, and then they'll want to do my taxes."  And my response, "New York has a LOT of tourists.  And you ARE a tourist here.  If someone asks to do your taxes just get their information, don't give them yours and tell them you'll contact them when you get home, and that you don't travel with your yearly tax information."  And then I woke up.

Not the greatest dream.  A little disoriented and really embarrassing at the beginning.

Tricks and Law of Witnesses

So, somewhere towards the end of this dream, I felt like I had had a dream like this one before and realized it WAS only a dream.  Now, let's start from the beginning.

There was me and a girl I was friends with and we were going somewhere and ran into this lady who invited us somewhere else first.  My friend was very excited for this detour and so we went.  I was supportive but withdrawn so the lady that invited us thought that I was part of an inner circle concerning wherever we were going.  I wasn't, I had never been before and had no idea what we were getting into, but instincts told me to pretend I knew exactly what was going on. 

We went into a building, and it was beautifully decorated.  We were given a partial mini-tour before being led into a grand ballroom.  On the far end of the room there was a long dining room table, set for at least 50.  It was a weird setting, but seemed appropriate for some reason.  In some cases, they set the table with a charger plate beneath a normal plate and sometimes additional smaller plates, this place setting was similar.  There was a charger plate and then a design plate and then a type of charger cup that was mainly see through with a few designs etched into the side and another bowl-cup inside with the same design as the plate.  You knew something was inside this inner cup but couldn't see exactly what.  The lady who had invited us here had been our tour guide and she led us over to a lady in the corner by this table.  By her dress and manner, you could tell she was the head lady.  My friend looked at the table and realized she was thirsty.  So she asked if she was allowed to drink from the glasses (assuming there was water or something in the filled cups).  The head lady gave permission and my friend went to take a drink.  I can't remember exactly, but I think it wasn't liquid but something like gummy worms.  Either way, my friend saw the candies and decided she would have a candy instead.  She ate a candy and the head lady became louder and mean.  In a commanding voice she said, "You have eaten of the forbidden food and have broken one of our sacred laws.  You must be judged." 

So we were taken around to the other side of the table and she started questioning my friend.  The other lady stood by and I followed her example, still pretending, but now obviously looking for a way out.  I mean, in my view, she had asked and was given permission, if she wasn't allowed, then the head lady shouldn't have permission, so my friend was still innocent.  She started questioning my friend, questions from the Bible, but the answers were always twisted and so my friend didn't get ONE right.  She all of a sudden decided the judgement was over and I could tell it wasn't good.  A thought came with me and I spoke up, "You say you follow the Bible?"

The head lady replied, "Of course, by all of its teachings."

"What about the law of two witnesses?  Don't you need two witnesses to condemn someone?"

The head lady said, "Yes," and motioned with a grand, elegant gesture of her hand that the lady who gave us the tour and myself were the witnesses.

"I do not witness against this girl.  I believe she is innocent.  She was told specifically that it was ok to take from the cups and cannot be held accountable for a lie YOU told."

The head lady was offended, maybe rightly so, but she was in the wrong.  She then replied quickly, "Well, I will be the second witness."

I responded quickly as well, "You cannot be both judge and witness.  I will take this girl and leave for she can be proven guilty of no crime."  I reached out a hand to my friend and started heading towards the doors.  The head lady called "Guards" and I looked at my friend and we both started running.  And then I woke up.

It may be noted that at some point I realized that their goal in their religion was to use trickery to gain more members, but they were all slaves to someone else.  My friend would've been a slave to the lady who tricked her into coming to the building in the first place.  Their religion claimed to follow the Bible, but instead worshipped a fox idol who was supposed to be a cunning, tricky version of the God in the Bible.  I do not pretend to understand how they interpreted all things, but it was very interesting.  I have had a similar dream before, otherwise I would say that this one parallels a book I'm reading, and things I've read or discussed recently in the Bible.  The dream I had before I can't remember fully, but I know I didn't get out using the law of witnesses and I don't remember anything about a fox.  Just a building of women who used many confusing rituals and trickery to make slaves of others.