I just get these moments of nostalgia where I appreciate the impact being a missionary had on my life. I made lifelong friends. I wouldn't be married to Scott had I not gone on a mission, I wouldn't have had the little family I do...my family, which is the best thing about me wouldn't be mine-that thought makes me tear up every time.
Anyway today I was missing my mission because I came across some pics and I remembered how much I loved my companions out there and all the experiences we had together, the laughter and the tears...but oh the laughing was awesome! So even though there were countless experiences in the mish that I could talk about, I'd like to dedicate this particular post to my wonderful mission comps who helped make the good, the bad, and the ugly, and the wonderful of the mission into memories I will forever cherish:
Hermana Melanie Klann...
(on the right)
Mel was my MTC companion...who I loved immediately. Probably the only person I'll ever meet who thought, talked, and acted so much like me it was frightening. We were both much more immature at the time, and we used to play fight all the time. She and I were so crazy we would get into full out wrestling matches and water fights in our apartment. One time I had hit her too hard with my backpack and I felt really bad cause I didn't mean to hurt her that bad, so I told her to bite me in the arm, which she did, and we both had a big bruise that lasted for about two months. To those that don't understand, that sounds really immature, violent and aggressive, but we laughed about it constantly. You had to be there.
Hermana Claudia Rameriz (at the bottom of the tree):
Claudia was my trainer. This girl would have taken a bullet for me if necessary. She loved me like she was my mother. She was always patient and tolerant of me, who being a greenie, still had a lot to learn when it came to the mission world. I'll always remember hiking with her on P-day and yes once again, beating each other up, but with pillows this time, so that there were no injuries. We also dressed up in superhero outfits for a skit during a zone meeting that brought down the house, and crying together when a new convert we were seeing went through a horrible time. I also remember how afraid I was when she got transferred because now I would be the one showing the new comp the area and the members and pick up where we left off.
Hermana Sara Sansom:
Sara is one of the happiest people I've ever met or will ever meet. This girl never took the smile off her face...I used to tell her she was annoyingly cheerful when I teased her, but her cheerfulness was unbelievably contagious, and I learned a ton about having the right attitude during the mission from her. She also taught me the value of hard work. Along with being the happiest, she was also the hardest worker, which also taught me a lot about how working hard brings happiness. The hard work brought a lot of results too. Almost the entire street we lived on was attending church and many of them got baptized.
Hermana Kathleen Tua'one:
Here's a picture of Kat ironing her hair flat, and laughing while she's doing it. We used to laugh all the time over dumb little things we would do like this. She came off as extremely aggressive to people who didn't know her like I did, but she only looked that way because she was a very passionate person which is what made her a good missionary when we taught people. She had a huge heart and was a good friend. We would have long talks about all kinds of things and I'll never ever forget her forgiving spirit. She taught me that no matter what anyone does to you, you can forgive them. I'll always be thankful to her for that. She got really sick and had to go home and get better while I was companions with her, which she did. We kept in contact by phone for many years. I haven't heard from her in a long time, the last time we talked she called me from Hawaii where she was living. I hope she's doing well. I still think about her all the time.
Hermana Isabel Vasquez:
Isi was my first greenie that I got to train. We were inseparable even for comps. She was one of the bravest people I'd ever met, going against her family and friends wishes to serve a mission, and not having their support while she served. She is a powerful convert to the church, with an amazing testimony. She's still like a sister to me. When we taught together it was always powerful, and always in sync with the spirit. One of us would always say what the other was thinking. She was my comp during my favorite time in the mission serving in my favorite area, with my favorite ward members, and favorite investigators. She was my comp during the prime of my mission when things couldn't get any better. Even though we haven't seen eachother in over 6 years, we're still very close.
Hermana Ramsey Merrill:
Rams was another one of my comps that I could laugh and laugh with no matter what the occasion. She has an awesome personality full of life, love and hilarity. Here we are sporting patriotic bandannas on p-day, to show pride for our homeland. We were in a crazy area with a lot of crazy experiences, including our haunted apartment with Mora the ghost, singing in the streets, eating tuna and sardines because we were starving, hilarious song and dance routines we would perform in the the comfort of our apartment, our shower exploding, begging my parents to send us lucky charms on cassette tapes, a four foot man in a gorilla suit beating up old people and children for their jewlery and watches, the list goes on and on. Our experiences as companions in the mission could have seriously been it's own sitcom. Even though the area had it's tough times, we always found reasons to laugh, which is what life is all about. I'm so glad we're friends!
Hermana Erin Oshita:
Another p-day picture...we're hiking through the Incan ruins of Tihuanacu here. Erin was my second greenie. I'll never forget the time when she and I were at the market during yet another political strike with picketers, when we found ourselves running through the chaos with shopping bags trying not to choke on tear gas, then jumping onto a moving bus where the driver was yelling "over here hermanas! jump!" and then once away from the danger the bus crashed into a ditch and we had to get out and walk now being in the middle of nowhere. Luckily after about a half hour of walking a taxi magically drove by and we were able to get a ride back to our area. Every once and a while we would have an "Indiana jones" day in the mission due to the political problems going on in the country, and since Erin was my second greenie this was her first introduction to the experience. As scary as it may sound, we were actually laughing about it all night because of how random it was and how funny we must have looked running in our skirts with shopping bags, (which we refused to drop) in each hand. Erin and I were the last sisters to serve in that area and after the transfers they put Elders in there to deal with what life was like in that crazy town.
My mission was full of experiences that I will always remember, and it was the perfect mission for me and my personality. The Lord really does know each of his children, cause there was no other place in the world that would have been good enough for me. It was an awesome adventure, and as a result, has led me to where I am now with the life I have today. I will always be thankful for it.
