Moving Out - 08/19/13

You've caught me at probably my happiest that I've been in the entire past week. It's been a stressful one.

On Tuesday night, our homeshare decided to tell us everything that my companion has been doing wrong. I had no idea that we were doing anything wrong. But he told us that my companion has been  rude and disrespectful and immature and selfish - all of those words, I'm not exaggerating - and cited examples. One of those examples was when we baked brownies and my companion offered him some. That was clearly rude to offer them because they were his brownies already because we baked them in his oven. Never mind the fact that we purchased the ingredients and made the brownies, and that our homeshare agreement clearly states that our food is our food and his food is his food. That really ticked him off and showed how disrespectful my companion is. Why everything was my companion's fault, I still haven't figured out. But our homeshare had obviously been actively looking for malicious intent, taking offense where none was intended, and bottling up those hurt feelings. Because of the lack of communication, we had no idea that we were offending him, and it became apparent that it would take a long time to heal the wounds that we had already inadvertently caused. 

Well, we don't have a lot of time to heal those wounds. Earlier that very day, my companion had spoken with both his therapist and our mission president. They both said he should go home from his mission early. The mission president wanted to send him home the next day, but agreed to let him stay until Friday 23 August so he could attend the baptism we had scheduled for 22 August. I use the past tense because this guy left us hanging and canceled his lesson on Thursday, which is also when we were going to do the baptismal interview. He then left town for a vacation on the river and we didn't hear from him all weekend. 

So flash back to Tuesday: in one night, I discovered that my companion whom I love dearly is leaving his mission early. And then my homeshare, who I thought was a pretty cool dude despite being so shy and quiet, revealed an awful lot of anger and told my companion specifically that he needed to move out of the house as soon as possible. We didn't sleep much at all that night. 

Wednesday morning, we got moved into an apartment. Yes, by some miracle, our housing coordinators were able to find an open apartment, pay for it, sign all the papers, and move our stuff out of the old place in the same day. This place is a pretty nice apartment, too. New carpet, new stove, new fridge, new microwave... and most of all, it's just us two and nobody else to worry about accidentally offending. I could see them moving two more elders in there eventually, because it's more space than we need even with just one bedroom. 

We spent a lot of time this past week trying to get situated in our new housing situation. I'm still not completely unpacked, because we just got a dresser this morning to put our clothes in. I wonder how long it will take for the mission office mail lady to start sending my mail to the new apartment. I texted her and called her on the phone already, so hopefully that will be enough this time around. I'm just a hard elder to keep tabs on! This is the third place I've lived in the last six weeks, and I'm about to move on to the fifth companion I've had in the Moreno Valley zone. Yikes.

It was a pretty dark week. I hated the idea of losing my companion, because he and I are honestly the best of friends. I was grumpy from not getting enough sleep. Our numbers this week were awful because of all the time spent packing, unpacking, talking to higher-ups, and taking care of errands and assorted moving-related business. It especially stressed me out not knowing if the baptism would go through. My companion has not baptized anybody his entire 7 months of being a missionary. He got special permission to stay for this one baptism, the only one of his mission. Having our investigator skip out on us made me terribly anxious and upset. But I have a lot of support out here from the missionaries and I find lots of comfort in living the gospel and strengthening my relationship with my savior. The Sacrament really turned my mood around, and now I just have to deal with the fact that my companion that I love dearly has to end his mission early.

So, today we had a nerf gun war with the whole zone in the cultural hall, and it was exhilarating. Seriously, it was the most fun I've had in weeks. Especially with all the sisters playing! It was hilarious seeing how much they got into it, too. We played for about an hour, and I'm pretty sure we're going to do this again. It was fantastic.

Oh, and right as I started typing this email, we got a call from that wayward investigator that bailed on his baptismal interview. He says he wants to get baptized still. I saved the draft of this email and called the zone leaders and got his interview all set up. He received a pretty definite answer to his prayers and he is ready to get baptized even though his parents told him they are "one hundred percent against you becoming Mormon". He's 19, and he's told us it's his decision and not theirs. He just passed his interview and I have the signed baptismal white in my hand. I'm pretty darn excited about that. :D

In the end, God gives us what we need. Sometimes he lets us sweat it out a little bit, and we are usually tested and tried a lot before the miraculous happens. But his Love always shines through no matter what. I'm so glad that things are looking up, and that God has brought peace to my soul and strengthened my faith yet again. I know it's true, and I'm anxious to see what my next assignment is.