There is no end to Love
Wow.My opportunities to extend and receive love this week have been amazing. Flat out mind blowing.
It began last Sunday with "my British friend." He's an Elder serving in Berlin that I've had a few delightful opportunities to get to know. I knew from an Elder I don't know as well in his district that he would be leaving on Monday. So Sunday came and went until the last bit of the evening and I never even saw him that the two events all missionaries here attended. It was a fact I noticed but didn't give much thought to as my companions and I walked back to our dorm. The lights were on in the main walkway outside - those lights are no Rockefeller Center but they are so beautiful to me, so I asked my companions if we could take the slightly longer route home to stroll through them. Even though it was "FARKAS ORDITO HEDIG VAN!" or "Wolf Howling Cold!" they obliged. We were stopped by some Elders hoping to find a photographer for them, and by others we knew, so it took us a little while to walk though the 100 yard or so stretch. Just at the end, to my astonishment, I heard a familiar accent call, "It's my friend!"
It was the sprinkles on the cherry on the icing on the cake of a really wonderful day! We spent a few minutes expressing excitement - finally getting eachother's names straight, and exchanging mission addresses. He had his camera, so we took a picture and his ear turned toward his companion when we found them, "This is her! The sister with no name!" The companion turned to me and announced (it seemed a little to the embarrassment of my friend), "You're his favorite sister!"
It was such a sweet experience that my life would have been complete without, but it made my whole WEEK. I brought a handful of Kansas postcards to write short notes to those who touch my life throughout my service and it was fun to fill the first of them out. I told him, "It has always been the little things in life that have brought me the most joy." and making his acquaintance brought me much joy.
But the love doesn't stop there! My mom wrote me a Dear Elder that I received Monday to let me know some unfortunate news to say the least. At the end, she informed me that I am not the only missionary from whom she's been receiving mail. Completely without my knowledge, one of my sweet Elders in the District took it upon himself to write my mother. I don't know what he said because I feel their correspondence is their business, but the next time I saw him I've never ached so badly to give one of them a hugh. His kind action prompted by the Spirit explained perfectly when I told her, "But Mom - I love them all so much."
There are many more examples I could recount but for the typist's sake, I'll share just one more.
One day at lunch this week, I poked fun at one of my Elders (a different one). I always follow up a joke with "Szeretlek!" to remind them that "I love you!" What proceeded was the following conversation - but entirely in Hungarian.
I made the joke, then executed my reminder, "But, I love you!"
"I know."
"I know that you know, and I love it."
"I love that you love me - because I love you too."
Just for the record, in Hungarian there is a separate verb for "to love" that denotes a romantic connotation and we always use the other one - I don't even know the verb for that kind of love.
I was promised blessings like I had never experienced.
I had no idea just how amazing they would be.
Happy Holidays, Dear Ones! I hope everyone is enjoying the season. I know I certainly am.
- Ashley
Friend of the Week:
Stacie
Picture it: June 2003, LDS Chapel, Caldwell, NJ
It is exactly the second week I've attended church where I'm geographically designated to and there is a young family who has just moved into the Ward - I look at the BEAUTIFUL wife with her 3.75 children and I see who I want to be in fifteen years. Heavenly Father, however, is the multi-tasker of all multi-taskers and assigns me to be her Visiting Teacher so month by month over the next two years where there was a hole in our hearts for missing our sisters - new sisters came to fill. Stacie is so funny and full of life. She takes her responsibility as a wife and mother quite seriously and is one of the best examples of righteous living I know. She has been since I've known her.
I gre to love Stacie and her family so much - I spend nearly whole days there for what was originally intended to be a Visiting Teaching appointment. One of the most painful parts of leaving New Jersey was that I was no longer able to be so geographically close to my Sister. I lived so nearby that as my endurance for running grew a little I could run to her house and back for a workout. Going to Stacie's was always fun and one of my favorite noises in the world was the anxious thunder of feet clambering to the door to greet me. I spent my days defined as the Big Sister, but only until I met Stacie.
posted by Bryce @ 12:00 PM
