Mission Memory - Trust

For those of you who don't know me very well may or may not be a little surprised to learn that I am a bit of a prankster. I couldn't get away with many pranks on the mission, but I would if I could. I was always a little afraid of pulling one on the companions that I trained, because they simply tell you that it is a no-no.

Until I was with my third companion and we were given this bag of chips.

Let me pause here. The night my new companion arrived in the mission field was the night before we knew we would be companions. All the new missionaries fly into Manchester and stay with the mission president and his wife and then they meet their trainers the next morning at transfer meeting. Except this particular group of missionaries was so large, they wouldn't all fit in the mission home, so my 2nd companion and I - in an area about 30 minutes from the mission home - went to pick up some sisters to stay the night with us.

My new companion - who didn't know she would be my new companion - was there. Her first impression of me? I'm a complete goofball. An accurate impression, I would say. She had her fair warning ahead of time.

Anyway. On the drive to our new area, I told her that I needed to trust her, and she needed to trust me in order for the companionship to work out. So, I told her that I was going to go ahead and treat her as she already earned my trust. And I believe that because we both started out with that knowledge that we needed to trust each other, we were able to work so well together for 6 months!

But before we were together for 6 months. In the very beginning, we were at a Branch function and as we were cleaning up, someone gave us these bags of chips. One was some tomato flavor and the other was chicken and waffle chips. I looked at the latter bag and decided to try one. My companion asked me what I thought and I could only describe it as a bouillon cube with syrup on it. It was gross.

A few minutes later I decided she should try one, too. But she didn't know I had come to that decision until I had a chip in my hand held up to her face and told her to "just trust me".  Her face as she hesitantly ate that chip was priceless! Then her face scrunched up and she asked me, "what IS this?" Her face displaying a look of almost betrayal.

Don't worry, we still trusted each other and I never tried to feed her anything nasty ever again. We gave the chips to the Elders, who were much more excited about the seasoning choice than we were, and we only spoke fondly of that experience ever since.

On Rainstorms

Biking home today, there was quite an ominous cloud overhead and I was leaving the campus I could see where the rain started. A lot of you have seen it, I'm sure. That stark line that is obviously wet, the little pitter-patters in the distance. The smell of lightning... Yeah. Now. Imagine having to bike - or even better, walk - into it. That feeling of dread, the bracing to get wet, turning down your head so you can maintain visibility and allow your helmet to keep most of the rain from hitting you in the eyeball.

Some people come prepared, some people don't. Living in Florida all my life, rain is nothing new. And the size and impact of the big rain doesn't surprise me, either. I'm used to it. I've been caught in the rain so many times, I can't even begin to count how often. But it's still unsettling, when biking right next to all these student drivers that are potentially distracted by either their phones or friends. I am very aware of the dangers of biking in the rain. It can be pretty scary.

Anyway, I had a purpose for talking about this, didn't I? Oh, yes. Storms. We all come across storms in our lives. Sometimes we're prepared for them, sometimes we're not. Sometimes we've been caught in the same kind of storm, no matter how big or small, it doesn't surprise us. Sometimes we wait it out in our house or under the awning of a building. Sometimes we tilt our head, square our shoulders and face what is right in front of us, because the only other option is to stop going where we are headed.

Today's storm was really short. Just a small cloud too heavy to pass without a little lightening (and lightning!) I was braced for a longer battle, it's true. Sometimes we don't have to fight very long. Sometimes, though, after we've shot through the spurt of rain, we have to keep on in some other, unexpected way. Like your shoulder, back and surprisingly ribs hurting from the awkward weight of your newly purchased textbooks.

Now, I suppose I should have a conclusion of some sort now, but I don't really like having conclusions, when I know that we all really come up with our own conclusions. So, have fun. Endure storms. Be prepared. Or not. It's all up to you.

Love you all!

The Journey Home

 
My group of missionaries headed home with President and Sister Stoker

The trip home was exciting. I spent 9 1/2 hours on 3 flights and in 4 different airports. I've decided that all airports are pretty much the same. 

When  I was in the airport in Charlotte, NC and I had a 2 hour layover and I passed a Jamba Juice. I thought, "Hey, Jamba Juice! Yes, please." After the sweet man who took my order and referred to me as "Ms. Sister Davis" recommended a smoothie to me, he kindly congratulated me on going home and I got my smoothie and left.

I was walking and didn't realize that my smoothie was dripping until I looked down.

Razzmatazz, meet white shirt.

Yeah. It was embarrassing. Luckily for me, though, I had an undershirt that was appropriate to wear, but the smoothie bled to that layer, too.

Then I realized that due to pure exhaustion that morning, I put my shirt on backwards. Yep. After fixing that I no longer had a stain on the front of my shirt. Talk about a tender mercy.