Friends!

November 20, 2011

The lyrics to one of my favorite TV show theme songs:

So no one told you life was gonna be this way. (clap 4 times)
Your jobs a joke, you're broke, your love life's DOA.
It's like you're always stuck in second gear,
Well, it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year. But...
I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour.
I'll be there for you, like I've been there before.
I'll be there for you, cause you're there for me too.

You're still in bed at ten, and work began at eight.
You've burned your breakfast, so far, things are going great.
Your mother warned you they'd be days like these,
But she didn't tell you when the world has brought you down to your knees that...
I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour.
I'll be there for you, like I've been there before.
I'll be there for you, cause you're there for me too.

No one could ever know me, no one could ever see me.
Seems like you're the only one who knows what it's like to be me.
Someone to face the day with, make it through all the rest with,
Someone I'll always laugh with, even at my worst, I'm best with you.
It's like you're always stuck in second gear,
Well, it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year.
But, I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour.
I'll be there for you, like I've been there before.
I'll be there for you, cause you're there for me too.

This is probably the best description of the last two transfers. My companion and I are great friends. We help each other laugh, we tell each other jokes, and we support each others. And we've been doing all of this through nearly three months of wanting to cry and feeling like we're about to fall down and fall hard. I mentioned a few weeks ago of hoping that our string of unfortunate circumstances would soon be ending. I've come to the conclusion, however, that the unending problems that began at the beginning of our companionship will continue till the end. The strangest thing is that none of it is caused by our companionship. We are great friends and if we didn't have each other I think we would have both gone crazy. Our trials instead take the form of drunk men trying to ask for our number, dogs eating our stuff, getting sick, people stealing stuff out of my companion's backpack, investigators having strokes, recent converts becoming seriously ill for weeks, and I could go on but probably shouldn't because this blog would be incredibly depressing if I did so. In essence, these last three months have been the hardest of my mission, but I've been blessed with a companion who embodies the above lyrics and I try to do the same for her.

In the midst of our problems and challenges, we have felt very alone. Circumstances and such often leave us feeling as though she and I stand together as the devil throws everything he has at us. As trial after trial buffets our lives we cannot help but feel exhausted- physically, mentally, and emotionally. When you spend the hours between 6:30 and 8 in the morning discovering that the phone and my companion's wallet have both gone missing and that an amazing investigator who wanted to come to church is now in the hospital because she had a stroke (and in addition to all that, she had the stroke because her son was in a drunk rage and breaking their house, and all the grandchildren happen to have the chicken pox right now) and then you have to rush to church and look like nothing is wrong, it can leave one feeling as though the weekly allotment of emotional energy for the week is already gone despite the clock reading 8 am on Sunday morning. I'm honestly not sure how much longer I can keep pushing though all of this. I hope and pray that it will all stop before I do.

Despite all this, we really have been doing our best to keep an optimistic attitude. We know that the Lord stands with us and will strengthen us to survive what we are facing. My experiences leave me thinking of a story in the Book of Mormon. The story is of Nephi and his brothers. They are sent to retrieve what is known as the Brass Plates from a wicked man named Laban. The first two attempts to retrieve the plates results in their stuff being stolen, nearly being killed, and being chased out of the city by Laban's armies. The older brothers insist on giving up at this point and going home, but Nephi wants to continue for they have been commanded of God to acquire the plates. The brothers respond that they are just 4 boys and the armies of Laban will kill them if they return. Nephi's response is as such, "Let us go up again unto Jerusalem, and let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord; for behold, he is mightier than all the earth, then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty, yea, or even than his tens of thousands?" (1 Nephi 4:1). The Lord is mightier than all the earth. He is mightier than all the forces of Satan that try to drag my companion and I down. All the forces of lonesomeness, abandonment, sickness, and distress can do nothing against the power of the Lord. If I must, I will stand alone against all that is against me because I know that I'm not truly alone. Standing beside me are my companion and the Lord, even if no one else, and the three of us (as long as we make sure that we have the Lord with us) are powerful enough to over come it all.

Halong Kamo!