Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Semi-nudity, murmering and RS

Mormony church blog ahead. Lots of LDS terminology. Bear with me. Remember this post where I was venting about attending the most unfriendly congregation on the planet? Well, there's an update. I was home one evening two weeks ago when I looked around the living room and decided I could no longer tolerate it looking as though a bomb had hit it and I began to frantically clean up. As I was cleaning I somehow noticed how dusty and icky the TV stand is and I sort of accidently got the whole sleeve of my shirt covered in dust. So I decided to just rip off my shirt and use it as a dust rag. I had a sheer tank top camisole thing underneath. After my cleaning binge I was relaxing on the couch watching some Big Bang Theory when the doorbell rang. I went downstairs to open the door expecting it to be, like my neighbor with a piece of mail that had been delivered to their house accidently and I could just sort of stick my arm out to exchange pleasantries and not reveal my see-through top. Instead I discovered two men: my home teachers. One of them attended my high school when we were kids and was a few years older than me and is evidently the new EQP. The other I had never seen before. More on him in a minute. They said they had tried to call, but couldn't reach me. I invited them in, awkwardly trying to cover myself up. Fortuneatly I had a sweatshirt hanging on the upstairs banister I could throw on and thankfully I had just cleaned the whole living room so they didn't have to navigate through the debris as they would have any other day that week. We discovered they couldn't reach me because the phone number the church has listed is my parents old house number. Huh. It was sort of the get to know you visit; no real message. Somehow it came up that I am still somewhat back and forth from the singles ward and I said something about how I keep going there when I can because I don't feel comfortable in the family ward. The one misunderstood and said "Oh I hated attending the singles ward." I tried to correct him a few times to explain that I liked attending the singles ward but he kept not understanding until finally I ended almost shouting "No! I don't hate the singles ward! I HATE YOUR WARD!" So then I figured since I had opened the flood gates so to speak, I rolled with it and next thing you know I am like, choking on a lump on my throat and telling these total strangers that I have attended since May and no one knows who I am, no one talks to me, how I sit alone in every class and during Relief Society there is this awkward get to know you chit chat thing and how I sit there pretending to read my scriptures because no one will bother to chit chat with me and how I still don't have a calling, even though I am very capable person and I am totally willing to take on a calling and how even though I have been coming for like 8 months I can count on one hand the number of times someone has even introduced themselves to me or said hello. I went off about how hard it is to be single in a family ward and how somehow they have put me on the e-mail list for the single adult activities and how, for crying out loud, I am only 27, I don't want to go to Potlucks and mingle with widowers. I also said something about how no one in the bishopric had ever approached me or welcomed me or even spoken to me and how that was culture shock coming from a very friendly singles ward where the Bishopric generally approaches you within five minutes of you setting foot into the chapel for your first time (and that is truly not an exaggeration. P3 takes fellowshipping and welcoming very seriously) And then I stopped. And they just sort of stared at me. And then the non-high school one cleared his throat and was like "Well, I'm in the Bishopric, so I could definitely see about getting you a calling." ***Awkward*** I gave a half hearted "No offense" but it was a little late since I put it all out there. But anyways, this past Sunday EQP's wife came and introduced herself to me and then sat next to me during Relief Society. And two other people talked to me so that definitely helped me not feel like such a pariah. So maybe my home teaching rant was not in vain...

6 comments:

JenX said...

I'm glad you got it all out there, and I'm not talking about your outfit ;)

Kristi said...

Man, that sounds like a rough, awkward night. But hopefully it inspired some changes and you'll be happier in the ward for it.

(It also makes me giggle a bit to imagine what they must've thought when you opened the door.)

Leah said...

I found this talk by President Eyring helpful in dealing with some of the same feelings in my life.
http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1032-7,00.html

Have a great day!

Laura said...

That's awesome that you told them all that. Also kinda funny that the one guy was in the Bishopric. I'm glad now you have people introducing themselves to you and talking to you.

Chell said...

Good for you. Might not have been the way you wanted to get it all out there but I am so glad you did. every Sunday I think of you wondering if things have gotten any better for you!!

Sef said...

:-)

Check it out

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