Dining with Mormons part two and the benefits of being on pause

Ah, the pleasures of living on the ocean. There’s nowhere to go and nothing that is required of you. That temporary stasis that was so disorienting on our way over to Europe now feels like a tonic. It’s an endless ocean of peace. Today we attended a lecture about the Titanic (pretty bold, Cunard, pretty bold) whilst traveling the ocean in which it met its demise. It was highly attended. And later, we spent a good amount of time in the library. It’s really my favorite place on the ship. At lunchtime, we retreated to our cabin and watched an episode of Poirot (downloaded before the voyage of course) and had room service lunch. It’s all really so nice.

Again tonight we had dinner with the Mormons. It was a formal night, mandatory dressing up, and the theme was black and white. I wore my black suit with a white shirt and bowtie. I was worried that our tablemates would be put off by my attire but they were complimentary. I asked questions about the Mormon religion and actually learned a lot. Did you know that Momons are in to genealogy because they believe that all people must be baptized before going to heaven and they are able to “baptize by proxy” any relatives that were not given the chance to do so? Mormons believe that families are eternally linked, on earth and in heaven, so they want to keep the family unit intact through this proxy baptism practice. Pretty interesting. We also talked about missions. Young Momorns can choose to participate in a mission or not, but if they do they have no say in where they are sent. The couple with 11 children talked about how some of their kids were sent to places such as Japan or Italy, while others were sent to Baltimore or Phoenix. That’s gotta be hard for the kids with less interesting destinations. This same couple is going on a mission themselves, beginning in August. They are going to Cambodia to help with a healthcare clinic (one of them is a doctor). Mom and I asked many questions about their religion and I’m wondering if we should be transparent about our lives and invite them to ask questions. I wonder how they’d react? Perhaps if we build trust we’ll be able to discuss the challenges of existing in a world with such different beliefs in a constructive way. Maybe…

To end the evening, we attended the Cunard fantabulous showcase show. It was filled with a bunch of singing and dancing and chorus lines, and surprisingly, many songs from the movie The Greatest Showman. It was more enjoyable than I anticipated it would be and reminded me of George, who loves the Showman. To bed, with clocks set back again (we are changing time overnight like normal people this trip instead of the weird practice of skipping noon that we endured on the way over). This excess of hours is a pretty nice perk.