Ice Hockey Stadium

The mission office elders in our Stockholm mission all got turns to drive the mission van. It was a huge vehicle intended to accommodate large groups of missionaries to and from the airport on transfer days. On off days, though, it was fun to zip around in this oversized American monstrosity with just you and your companion. One freezing evening in January, Elder Braithwaite and I had been tracking an apartment complex and were on our way home. In an effort to get on the freeway, we saw a sign entrance that said “Is Hockey Stadium” (Ice Hockey). Knowing that the Ice Hockey stadium was the name of a freeway entrance, we turned into it. Unfortunately, it was the actual ice hockey stadium parking lot. And amazingly, the second we pulled into that icy, snowed-in lot, a line of cars suddently appeared behind us, blocking the one-lane entrance. It was a real mess, as every vehicle was sliding this way and that. And two people were unfortunately driving the large American monstrosity. A game was soon the start, and since the cars kept flowing in, it was all we could do to just keep circling round and round the small lot and try and keep out of others way and from getting hit. All of us were sliding, getting stuck in snowbanks, and it was a miracle there were no accidents. It seemed that cars were stopping and just parking wherever they wanted, since no one could see the painted stall lines under the icy, snow-covered base, and we panicked we would never get out. After what seemed an eternity (it was probably about an hour), the inflow of cars started to dissipate. Thankfully, Elder Braithwaite and I were able to thread the van through a passage that allowed us to get home before having to stay the night in the stadium. 

LESSON LEARNED: Lots of funny, memorable things happen on missions that aren’t so funny at the time.  But the memories are so worth it.

FEEDBACK: WHAT HILARIOUS MEMORIES DO YOU HAVE FROM YOUR MISSION?