Posted by:
catnip
(
)
Date: July 21, 2017 02:32AM
I joined the church well into adulthood, and should have known better, but I was going through a turbulent, unhappy time. Following a horrific divorce from an abuser, who threatened me with unspeakable things if I consulted an attorney "even once," and the loss of custody of my son, to whom I had been essentially a single parent for the first 11 or 12 years of his life, I was stuck in a job that I hated. Severe depression was a constant companion, despite counseling and medication.
I had just gotten home from work on a cold, rainy day, and put the teakettle on to boil water for tea. Nothing like a good cuppa to take the edge off a cold day, right?
And somebody knocked on my door. It was an adorable pair of mishies. Their presence was like sunshine. I was so vulnerable, emotionally - and here they were, a couple of friendly, likeable kids not much older than my own son.
I didn't care much about their religion, but their friendship was priceless. I left food in the fridge for them, and gave them the key to my house (they didn't have a phone, which I thought was incredibly stupid.)
They would call me at work to ask if they could bring some other elders from their zone over to my house, and I always told them, "If you trust these guys, I trust your opinion."
I never knew how many kids I would come home to, and they were always welcome. We would pool our resources to buy pizza and soda, and we rented movies. One of the kids from the extended group (a Maori) commented, while watching a movie (always "legal" ones) "Wow. This doesn't even feel like being on a mission. It's like being at home." That almost made me cry.
I became an unofficial foster mom to the mishies, until my job took me to another State. I am still in contact with one of those first two. (He is a bishop, and one of his sons was recently married in the SLC temple. I've never been brave enough to tell him that I left the church more than a decade ago.)
The heartstring connections I had with those kids helped me get through a very bad time in my life. And knowing what I know now about mission life, I think I helped them, too. We were co-conspirators, really. Their MP was a rule-bound prick, and I enjoyed knowingly ignoring their bedtime if we happened to be watching a good movie and enjoying popcorn. They knew I wouldn't snitch, and as far as I know, we all got away with it.