Michelle K
I met Michelle on Sept 5, 2001, the day I entered the Missionary Training Center (MTC). We were put together as companions for the nine weeks that we would be there. That meant we were together all of the time, and I mean all of it because companionship as a missionary is safety. We ate together, shared a room, were in all the same classes and all of the same meetings. We helped each other learn Ukrainian, although she had a head start because she already knew Russian. She is an adventurous yet particular California girl who loves to be pampered and eat good food and I had never met anyone like her before but instantly we clicked.
We had lots of amazing experiences while in the MTC that included being an Oreo for Halloween. We were actually in a threesome so Michelle and I wore black while our other wonderful companion, Marja, wore white and we passed out Oreos to everyone we met that day. We also watched a church movie about the pioneers every Sunday evening called Legacy and after a few weeks we had that movie memorized. One afternoon, while we were out walking laps around the field during our gym time, we stopped to act out a couple of our favorite scenes for anyone passing by and we were laughing hysterically. I'm not sure anyone else was but we though we were hilarious.
When we left the MTC in November and headed to Ukraine, we got sent to different parts of the country and for four months I didn't get to see Michelle at all. Then she came back into the city where I was and so we would run into each other sometimes for special meetings. Then in June, our mission president put us together and I was beyond excited. You normally don't get to serve with your MTC companion out in the field so we were thrilled. He kind of implied it would only be for a short time so we lived it up. We ate really well (Michelle is a fantastic cook), we of course worked hard, we read the entire Bible Dictionary in a month as our companionship study and we laughed a lot. We ended up being companions until September and it was the best four months of my mission. We taught some amazing people together and had some very spiritual experiences. In fact, two of the most significant days of my mission were spent with Michelle and certainly most of the funny events I remember happening were with her. We laughed and laughed about falling in the sands of Egypt, how a lady once told us our church needed more man, about the radioactive vegetables we were buying at the market (seriously, neon green peppers), and the guy who answered the door in a speedo.
For our service hours one week we decided to paint our elevator, which was gross and covered in graffiti. We decided to paint it the colors of the Ukrainian flag so the top half was blue and the bottom part yellow. It was a little complicated to keep the doors open so that we wouldn't suffocate but also to keep it on our floor. It was a hilarious process. I've also already written about the grasshopper story but if you don't remember it here it is. Just the other night I had a grasshopper in my basement and I called Michelle right away so we could laugh about it and she could help me get rid of it. Her advice was to go upstairs and let it have the basement.
I'm grateful that our friendship has continued past our mission experiences and we're still wonderful friends. We've created just as many fun memories in the 13.5 years we've been home from our mission, living on opposite sides of the country for the majority of that time, as we did in those months that we spent every moment together. We've traveled to Hong Kong together, been to Disneyland many times, she has spent hours playing Hot Lava (a game she invented) and Barbies with my children, we've laid around and talked and done absolutely nothing together, we've watched lots of movies and eaten lots of good food and continue to be an important part of each other's life. I am grateful for all the important moments we've shared together and thankful to know there will be many more throughout the rest of our lives.
We had lots of amazing experiences while in the MTC that included being an Oreo for Halloween. We were actually in a threesome so Michelle and I wore black while our other wonderful companion, Marja, wore white and we passed out Oreos to everyone we met that day. We also watched a church movie about the pioneers every Sunday evening called Legacy and after a few weeks we had that movie memorized. One afternoon, while we were out walking laps around the field during our gym time, we stopped to act out a couple of our favorite scenes for anyone passing by and we were laughing hysterically. I'm not sure anyone else was but we though we were hilarious.
When we left the MTC in November and headed to Ukraine, we got sent to different parts of the country and for four months I didn't get to see Michelle at all. Then she came back into the city where I was and so we would run into each other sometimes for special meetings. Then in June, our mission president put us together and I was beyond excited. You normally don't get to serve with your MTC companion out in the field so we were thrilled. He kind of implied it would only be for a short time so we lived it up. We ate really well (Michelle is a fantastic cook), we of course worked hard, we read the entire Bible Dictionary in a month as our companionship study and we laughed a lot. We ended up being companions until September and it was the best four months of my mission. We taught some amazing people together and had some very spiritual experiences. In fact, two of the most significant days of my mission were spent with Michelle and certainly most of the funny events I remember happening were with her. We laughed and laughed about falling in the sands of Egypt, how a lady once told us our church needed more man, about the radioactive vegetables we were buying at the market (seriously, neon green peppers), and the guy who answered the door in a speedo.
For our service hours one week we decided to paint our elevator, which was gross and covered in graffiti. We decided to paint it the colors of the Ukrainian flag so the top half was blue and the bottom part yellow. It was a little complicated to keep the doors open so that we wouldn't suffocate but also to keep it on our floor. It was a hilarious process. I've also already written about the grasshopper story but if you don't remember it here it is. Just the other night I had a grasshopper in my basement and I called Michelle right away so we could laugh about it and she could help me get rid of it. Her advice was to go upstairs and let it have the basement.
I'm grateful that our friendship has continued past our mission experiences and we're still wonderful friends. We've created just as many fun memories in the 13.5 years we've been home from our mission, living on opposite sides of the country for the majority of that time, as we did in those months that we spent every moment together. We've traveled to Hong Kong together, been to Disneyland many times, she has spent hours playing Hot Lava (a game she invented) and Barbies with my children, we've laid around and talked and done absolutely nothing together, we've watched lots of movies and eaten lots of good food and continue to be an important part of each other's life. I am grateful for all the important moments we've shared together and thankful to know there will be many more throughout the rest of our lives.
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