Sophie’s November: Featuring Utah, Washington, and Maryland

November started off strong with a ten and a half hour drive to Pullman, Washington. Midway through October marked two years since I left the Washington Spokane mission to fly to Ukraine, so I figured it was about time that I paid a visit to the place where my mission began. 

Had I actually visited in October, the area with it’s many trees and rolling fields would likely have been a lot prettier, but WSU campus looked largely as it always did for the six weeks I haunted it. It felt surreal to walk around campus, to drive down the same highways that Sister Bird and I would drive down to get to our church building in Moscow, Idaho, and to see some of the familiar faces that stood out to me likely much more than I stood out to them. 

I was accompanied on the trip by my friend Victoria, whom I met in Ukraine and have followed around ever since. We were both reassigned from our Ukraine missions to Temple Square and then were roommates last semester at BYU. She had no reason to come with me to Washington other than to keep me company and make sure I didn’t fall asleep during the long drive. She did a great job on both counts as well as with documenting the drive and various pit stops in photos that I think represent the feelings we were experiencing throughout the trip. 

Her only condition for agreeing to come on the trip was that we make a pit stop in Oregon, either on the way to Washington or on the way home. She explained that if we stopped for gas in Oregon, then that would fulfill her requirement of visiting the state and allowing her to say that she has been in 46 out of the 50 states. Not bad. 

My main reason for visiting Washington was actually to visit my friend Rebekah and her fiancé, Manny. Sister Bird and I made friends with Rebekah while we were together in Washington, and I have kept up some level of contact with her ever since. She is a dear friend, and it felt wonderful to visit her and to finally meet the man that I had heard about so many times but not had the opportunity to meet. They housed me and Victoria for the few nights we were in town and were just a joy to spend time with and get to know better.

The longer I am home from my mission, the more I realize how much my life has changed since I left home with a name tag, no phone, and a printed boarding pass. I’ve usually been a pretty happy person, but my mission probably featured some of the most demoralizing, anxious, and depressed weeks of my life. It also featured some of the greatest satisfaction, strongest friendships, and happiest weeks of my life. 

I wouldn’t trade the experiences I’ve had for graduating from college two years earlier, spending more time with my family while I was nineteen and twenty, or remembering any of the math I learned while I was a senior in high school. I love school, I love my family, and I don’t remember any calculus or statistics, but I have learned a lot about myself, Jesus, my family, and how much God loves all of His children for their many diversities. 

Thanksgiving Day this month was exactly one year from the day I flew home from Temple Square at the end of my mission, and my life has kept changing a lot since then. I am still learning so much, and the fun thing is that I am learning them in ways that seem more immediately applicable to the rest of my life. 

Embarrassingly, it took me almost that entire year to call my friend, Hassna, whom I met in Ukraine and who was baptized on the Christmas Day that I spent in Dnipro. It may have been this phone call alone that prompted the multi-paragraph ode to my mission above, because she was certainly the light of my entire mission. Talking to her on the phone, hearing about her recent struggles and successes, and now being able to relate to her about how awkward dating is was certainly a highlight of my month. I love being able to hear my friends’ voices from entire countries away, and I feel so blessed that some of those friends still actually want to hear my voice too.

I wanted to take a second to talk a little bit more about my work at the bindery, because I do actually quite enjoy myself there and feel that it is beginning to occupy a significant amount of my life. I work for about four hours every morning before going to any classes, and I regularly check the quality of copies of Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Missionary Service (PMG) before throwing them in boxes to be “shipped” to the Missionary Training Center right next door.

The fun thing about my job is that my supervisor sees me as a bit of an authority in my area. Whenever he wants an update on how the production is coming, he speaks to me. And when he has new instructions for the area, he makes sure I know about them so that I can make sure that everyone else is doing it right. I’m not letting the power go to my head or anything, but you could say that the bindery would probably burn down if I wasn’t there for four hours every day…

Okay, maybe that’s not true. But the more valued I feel there, the more I think about staying on in future semesters instead of doing the semesterly job hop as I have thus far been doing.

My classes are still treating me well, even as we quickly approach final exams. Most of my stress these days comes from things outside of homework, classes, and work, which might not be a good thing, but it’s making me enjoy school quite a bit. All of my classes this semester have actually felt as though they will contribute to my future career as a teacher, which has been incredibly motivating for me. Not motivating enough for me to have finished my projects or anything, but motivating.

Some of those stress-inducing, non-class things include dating and spending time with the various friend groups that I am a part of. Since my friends are perfect, let’s talk about dating, which is not. This week saw my first two blind dates ever, and they were both pretty fun. Here is what I have learned about myself.

I can generally have fun with a stranger for about three hours and still never feel the need to see them again. I’ve been told by various roommates and companions that I am pretty easy to get along with, which I attribute to the fact that I’m pretty non-confrontational and willing to go along with pretty much anything. It’s a condition that a few friends of mine like to call “not having any opinions.”

So, I had a few pretty comfortable blind dates because I think I can have fun with anyone who isn’t super creepy for one night. The first date was to a BYU football game, and the second was to a BYU symphonic band concert (tickets and companion courtesy of Tommy Eskelsen; thanks for making sure I go on dates instead of spending time with friends). Both were fun, both have been followed by nothing, which is okay with me. I’ve been on two blind dates now, and I think that’s a healthy enough number that now I can get married without having any regrets over never having been on one.

In between these two dates (which is not usually how I measure time, I promise) I went home for Thanksgiving! My parents were kind enough to fly me home for a little under a week so that I could spend the holiday with them and our extended Willis family. I loved being in Maryland again, as I always do, and seeing my White Oak Ward family and old high school friends.

The highlight was spending time with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents on Thursday and Friday. The longer I spend in Utah, the more grateful I am for a family who loves me enough to call me every week and want to hear all about my life and my non-existent boyfriend whenever they see me. Thanks for being interested in me, my school-life, my work-life, my social-life, my future, and my opinions (when they exist).

I’m excited for this next month of final projects and papers, Christmas, more Maryland, and no more blind dates. I hope all of you are excited for your month as well and I wish you happiness in the snow and a satisfactorily magical Christmas season.

All the love,
Sophie