6/18 Sarah Trefflich and ceviche, plus a new Stake Presidency

So, I had about a three hour conversation with Sarah Trefflich this evening after I got  home from dinner with the Peruvians.  She's a great girl, I can tell.  She's learned a lot in her 31 years of life.  We talked about many things.  I mentioned to her that I probably drink a lot of water because I take medicine.  She then asked and I told her my story of being in the mental hospital twice.  Once, coming home from my mission early.  Second because of a bad breakup and pneumonia.  She was very understanding.  She said that she has many friends in her sphere that are bipolar with schizo-affective disorder.  I told her I was only diagnosed bipolar.  I told her the abbreviated version of my story.  She then felt prompted to tell me her story.  Her parents both have their issues.  They're better now, but growing up, they weren't the best.  Plus, her parents growing up, were both in abusive homes.  She told me about how alone she felt at school, and how she didn't have many friends.  She believed that she was only loved in the church.  And then that crumbled when she found out that the youth leaders weren't telling her about activities because she lived too far.  She cried in the bathroom, haunted by thoughts of suicide at a young age.  Fortunately, at the time, she heard her sister listening to a John Bytheway cd talking about divine nature, and she felt God's presence, perhaps in the form of an angel hugging her.  She felt like this another time after she had gone through a break up and not knowing where to go to college.  Fortunately, her dad recommended that she go to BYU-Idaho.  She prayed about it in the Los Angeles Temple and got her answer.  She felt like it was the right thing to do.

At the end of the conversation, she asked me what was what.  How I was feeling about pursuing a relationship.  I hope I told her how I was feeling.  She asked that if I felt, after meeting her, that something was possible on our horizon, would I make the necessary decision to perhaps move closer to her if it felt right, I told her yes.  She seems to like me, and she is a nice person to talk to and bounce ideas off of.  She's smart and very right in her opinions.  Kinda like mom, and I do love my mom.  She has a nice personality and we have many things in common.  I do like her and if I lived by her I probably would have asked her out on a date.  I wonder if there would be a second date as well.  But I do feel attracted to her after just talking to her on the phone.  She has a strong testimony of the Gospel.  She is very grounded in what she believes and I love that about her.  She knows the scriptures really well, perhaps better than me, and you don't see that in many girls (except for perhaps Becky Shutt, who seems to be my equal).  I told her that I am through looking really and that I am desperate.  She told me that she would be content with her spending her days single.  I don't think I'm at that point yet in my tenure of being a YSA.  I do think that she's a pretty cool person, with many likes and commonalities. I guess we'll just have to see where life leads us.  Hopefully up from here.

I went with Mom and Dad to Wiwa and Anila's new house for lunch/dinner.  Tia Anila had prepared Ceviche and Arroz.  It was really good, like really good.  I haven't had Ceviche in the longest time.  There was also Arroz con Leche and chocolate chip cookies (Grandma Palmer style) that mom made for dessert.  It was served with Inka Kola.  All very good.  The air conditioning in their new apartment was not working for some reason.  I arranged with Mosiah to go to the gym tomorrow if he calls me.  I tried to get Melanie excited for seminary in a year, plus, at this point of time she wants to serve a mission.

I had the ending of Stake Conference today.  I don't know why, but Brother and Sister Harris saved me a spot in the front.  It was hard to stay awake during the whole thing, which made me feel really bad, because they got me this spot.  We got a new Stake Presidency.  The new stake president's name is Mark Smith, with President Wilson and President Laneer.  The three that were released were President Charles Cardon Rich, Brian Merrill, and Scott Hampton.  They served really well.  I love those three with all my heart, especially the counselors because I worked with them both really well on visits and in interviews while I was Elders Quorum President.

So, yes.  I have felt desperate, and a little hopeless at finding someone to marry.  Maybe Tyler has it right in thinking that Sarah and I would make a good couple.  I certainly enjoy talking to her for hours on end.  We have arranged that I will call her, but not every single day, starting with this Tuesday.  IDK, we shall see, I guess.