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Date: February 05, 2013 06:57AM
1. My trainer. He was pretty great. I learned that the mission rules could be bent, and we could still get plenty of work done. We worked pretty hard, but we had a good time sometimes too.
2. He was kind of shy and new in the mission, and so was I. This led to some awkwardness, but all in all it was pretty good.
3. I was his last companion. He was a nerd, like me. We had a lot of fun. We went to see a lot of cool sites and we spent a lot of days just hanging out talking. We did some work too, but almost no tracting. If it was raining, we'd just go shopping, or go to a library and surf the internet. He was my favorite companion.
4. This guy was a really smart missionary. He had the whole system figured out. He'd just make friends with people, and THEN teach them about the church. He also taught me how to deal with the "commitment pattern" that the mission leaders LOVED to use on us: whenever someone commits you to do something, just say you'll do it (they'll never accept any other answer anyway) and then later you can decide whether or not you actually want to do it. If you don't end up doing it, just make up a lame excuse, like you forgot or something. Never say you purposefully didn't do it, because that will just lead to them trying to "fix" your "problem."
5. He was a pretty good guy but he worked me very hard. We were always tracting, which never got us anywhere. I was exhausted and discouraged most of the time.
6. This guy was a really, genuinely good person. But he had a very hard time with the language, yet he was the DL because he'd gotten a bunch of baptisms in his previous area. He came from a no-mo family who were very opposed to him serving a mission. We worked very hard. I was annoyed at him for working me so hard, but it was hard to dislike him, because he was just such a good guy!
7. This guy was just a miserable person to be around! I'd heard of him beforehand. Everyone in the mission dreaded serving with him. I think he'd been emergency transferred more times than not. Even though he'd only been out about half as long as me, he'd already had twice as many companions! I soon found out why! This guy hated everyone and everything. He hated America and Americans, and had no problem telling me everything "wrong" with me and my homeland. He hated the natives and their whole culture. Everything they did was "wrong" because it wasn't how they did it back home in England. He would insult them and their country to their faces, so everyone hated him, and would never invite us over. He didn't like to work, but he refused to break any major rules either, so most of the time we just sat around at home in separate rooms and quietly hated each other. I was shocked when neither of us got transferred! (I guess I didn't complain enough to the MP!) It turned out that I was his only companion who got stuck with him for two whole transfers... lucky me. He jacked off in the shower and didn't even bother to clean it up. Gross! I never ratted him out, though, since I masturbated as well. He once got so mad at me that he ditched me in the middle of town and just went home. I just laughed at him, because I had the key! I came along about ten minutes later and he was just sitting on the front step with his arms crossed, pouting like a child, waiting for me to let him in.
8. I was his last companion. We just played around the whole time. It was such a relief after the last guy! The ward we were serving in got shut down while we were there, and we joked that it was all our fault for being so "apostate." He had a DVD player, and we'd borrow movies from members and investigators, and just sit around watching them all day or we'd go out and see some sites (not even necessarily in our area... or zone!). It was lots of fun.
9. I really don't remember him at all. I was going home, I really just didn't care anymore. I don't think he liked it, but by this point, he could pretty much bite me for all I cared! I would always answer the phone whenever the DL or ZLs would call and use elder #4's tricks. Eventually they all got sick of me, and would only talk to my companion, but I'd keep answering the phone anyway, just to mess with them. I'd answer and they'd immediately just ask for my companion, so I'd say something like, "Aww, you don't want to talk to me? Come on elder, don't you love me too? Choose not to be offended, elder!" I pretty much should have gone home a month early, it would have been better for everyone involved!