Elder Tolomeev: Indoctrination

Elder Tolomeev was 18 and a senior in high school when he joined the church. Aside from being junior class president, Tolomeev had been captain of the football team AND captain of the rugby team. But then, he was also a straight A student (and class president!!)--so obviously not your stereotypical jock. Still, his friends were surprised when his conversations with the missionary missionaries turned into a baptismal date. Of course, I wanted to know why he joined the church. Tolomeev's response? "In short, my coach. He's been a huge influence in my life since I met him." Tolomeev looked sheepish for a moment, and then continued... "Coach didn't baptize me, but he did tell me a lot about the true order of the priesthood. It was hard to keep it all straight. The religion is complicated. All I really could think about was him ordaining me to the true priesthood. The bottom line was this: he wanted me to meet with the missionaries and get baptized." Now, two weeks after starting his mission, Elder Tolomeev was here in the mission home. "As a missionary I'm still totally green. They call me a 'greenie.' But I'm not so green when it comes to this stuff. I started fooling around with coach right from the beginning. I can't wait for him to induct me into The Order" Tolomeev's indoctrination was tonight. I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing handsome young missionary men anointing their big, muscled, bodies with oil.