Where's Waldo? Youth Activity

 Ben headed up the organization of the young men/young women youth activity this past Wednesday.  It's called "Where's Waldo", but he put some special twists on it.  The basic premise of the activity is to have members of the ward dress up so they aren't recognizable, walk around the mall and let the youth try to find them.  Ben made up a "Warrant" poster with pictures of how we all look normally.  The youth had to find us and then write down on the paper what were wearing.    The lesson was that we shouldn't judge others on their appearance. 

 I decided to go a little over the top with black lipstick, fake Tattoo sleeves and no smiling.  I walked around for about 45 minutes and still no youth spotted me, until I was standing in the chick-fil-a line and turned to my right and accidentally made eye contact with one of the youth and couldn't keep a straight face.  After I got my chick-fil-a I sat down at a table near some of the youth and they started recognizing me.  Check out the guy behind me...

Here are some of the other contestants.  Mallory in her brown wig, Anna who really is super pregnant and still she wasn't recognized in a hat, Brother Nunez who is in the bishopric and is dressed like a thug, the missionaries in street cloths and some other great participants.  I learned a lot from the activity. 

Here are some of my experiences:
1.The first person to smile at me was a lady with purple hair
2. A teenage boy said he liked my tattoos.
3. Another man said he liked my tattoos and wanted to know where I got them done.  I told him they were fake and he creeped me out by touching my arm to find out for himself.
4. The chick-fil-a guy also wanted to know about my tattoos and when I told him they were fake he told me he wanted to get some.  Luckily his boss was on my side while we tried to talk him out of ever getting tattoos.
5.  Little kids walked by me and just stared at my arms.
6.  I really wanted to go into some wholesome stores- like motherhood maternity, but felt awkward and felt like I was only accepted in clothing stores that had to do with my current fashion.