The Godsend
Hermana Heysell Cruz was a mystery to me. She and I had led very different lives, that was for sure. She was a convert of almost 5 years and came on a mission solely to follow the Lord's will. She was so laid back I was curious how she even made it out of the MTC. We were friends quickly and got along fine, but she didn't share much about herself for a long time. At first I did struggle with her attitude toward missionary work, only because it was so different than mine. I was trained to be very obedient and didn't have a lot of room for error. That had a lot to do with my perfectionist personality, but also because I grew up with parents who had high standards for us and I always wanted to meet them. She understood the importance of only running as fast as you have strength and I started to learn that, but it took time.
We had an incredible experience together with my sweet cousin Rylee. Rylee is now 12, but was 11 at the time, and was not yet baptized. She had spent a lot of her childhood at my house with my sisters so we were very close to their family until her mom remarried and they moved to Temecula. I mentioned earlier that I knew she was one of the purposes of my mission, but that doesn't even begin to describe it. In September of the previous year, I had sent some elders in her area to visit her. Because she is a little girl and elders can't always enter the home like sisters can in that situation, it was very difficult for them to teach her. I asked my mission president for special permission to use the technology of our mission to video chat with her and teach her he said yes!! That happened the first week of December and after teaching her for just a short time, Hermana Cruz and I were able to attend her baptism. Not only that, but Rylee asked my dad to baptize her so my entire family and extended family was able to attend. It's not everyday a missionary gets to see their family on the mission, but seriously that was one of the coolest days of my life. Seeing Rylee exercise her faith and act on what she knew to be true, having my entire family there to support her, it gave me a glimpse into the eternities. I was surrounded by the people I loved in such a special circumstance. Rylee got to arrange the entire program herself so she chose all the musical numbers as well. The closing number was "We'll Bring the World His Truth" and singing that as a missionary is already very special, but singing that there was like 1-2-3 Cue the waterworks. We left shortly after the baptism, but I will always remember that day and how I felt. I think there are very few missionaries who would've been as loving and supportive of their companion the way that Hermana Cruz was through all of that. She loved Rylee just as much as I did.
After our second transfer together, we were best friends. She was the person I had needed for my whole life and God knew right when I needed her. Due to some really difficult circumstances she endured while we were together, I got to see a side of her that she hadn't been able to show before. That is an experience I hold very dear to my heart. Because of that, she was my Godsend. I have no doubt that I knew her in the pre-existence. It's interesting to think about how differently our lives could have been if we had both led different lives and never made it to the point of meeting each other, but because we chose to follow the Savior, he placed us together.
April 9th, 2019
This was a very difficult day. Transfers before this one were pretty easy. Leaving areas and people is never a simple feat, but it was never like this. We had both gotten called in to meet with President Thomas a few days before. He pulled both of us aside individually. She walked out first and and when he called me in, he told me that Hermana Cruz had been asked to train a new missionary. He then proceeded to call me as a Sister Training Leader. Talk about emotions. We were a mess. I was excited and she was excited for just me (lol), but knowing we were leaving each other was real sad. After 3 transfers, you definitely get into a groove together so change was coming and it was hard to imagine.
I was sent to a place called Valley Center to be companions with 2 hermanas that I loved. Hermana Blair, who I had already been companions with, and Hermana Ogando were up in the hills and dirt that made up Valley Center. We drove a truck, if that tells you anything about the terrain. And the people are just as unique as the roads there, lemme tell ya. It's a fun place. Indian reservations, plenty of hispanics, and people who live in the boonies simply because they don't want anyone else to join them in the boonies. But we still had plenty of opportunities to teach. I very much enjoyed my time in Valley Center, as short as it was.
Being sister training leaders, we would go on exchanges with the other sisters in the zone to check on their areas, their companionships, and any other needs they might have. I loved getting to be all over the place all the time, but mentally it did start to take a toll. I think there were quite a few things that played into the situation, but I was too concerned with the work and with the other missionaries around me that I didn't realize what I was doing to myself. I mentioned that I had gained quite a bit of weight in my first area and lost some of it in my previous area, but I lost 20 pounds in the 5 weeks I had in Valley Center. I think because my companions were so close to me all the time, they didn't see it like missionaries I only saw occasionally. Hermana Cruz and I actually went on an exchange while I was there in Valley Center and we both agreed that it was time I saw the mission therapist. I talked to my mission president and I got in with the therapist and he ended up taking me out of Valley Center for various reasons, along with my own needs, and putting me down in the Del Mar zone where I was close to other missionaries that I had good support from. When the real transfers actually came along, my new companions were Sisters Quist and Hathaway. That's right, this hermana went English speaking for a hot second. In a YSA ward, mind you. But that's just a small part of what those next 4 weeks would hold.
Comments
Post a Comment