The Tale of Armando, Part 2

(continued from the previous post)

Armando didn't give up so easily.  He was still a very shy guy, but we had given him our phone number earlier (standard procedure for a missionary) and he would call pretty frequently-- nearly every day-- and try to get to talk to me.  My companion always took the phone calls and she was always nice, but she never let him speak to me.  Occasionally he would tell her that he wanted to go back to church and she would tell him that was a wonderful idea and she would let the elders know and they would come by and walk with him.  (Our branch had six missionaries assigned to it-- my companion and myself, and two sets of young men, or "the elders" as we casually referred to them.)  Armando always declined, and we knew quite well that Armando wasn't really interested in going to church; he just was hoping for a chance to see the sister missionary he had become besotted with-- me.

One day Reina called and pled Armando's case with my companion.  She said that Armando was doing terribly-- she tried to guilt trip Holly by telling her that our refusal to see Armando had left him depressed and that he had started drinking.  This was not the happiest news by far, but Holly was a rock.  She would not be moved, no matter how pathetic the poor boy became.  Holly once again promised that if Armando truly was interested or in need of company the elders would visit, but that we would not be coming by again.

I think Armando must have seen Holly as the true problem, that I was longing to spend time with him but my heartless senior companion was determined to keep us apart.  At any rate, he decided a new tactic was in order.  He called Holly, told her he wanted to come to church again, and asked her to send the elders by to walk with him on Sunday.  Holly was relieved to turn the matter over to the elders; she passed Armando's information to them and left it in their hands.

Much to my surprise, Armando followed through and came to church with the elders on Sunday.  But every time I encountered him during the services (which wasn't often) he would stare at me.  I don't think he spoke a word to me, but his eyes were always fixed on me.  It was extremely uncomfortable, and it was clear to both me and Holly that Armando was not at church looking to fill some spiritual need.  Still, that was the elders' problem and not ours now.  So you can imagine our surprise when later that evening we learned that Armando had gotten baptized after church!!  My companion was livid.  She had a furious debate with both our district leader (the elder who had taken him to church) and with our zone leader (who had conducted the baptismal interview).  Both young men insisted that Armando had shown genuine interest in joining the church and they had merely gone along with it.  When Holly explained in exasperation that Armando was only interested in me, both elders said she was imagining things.

Well, imagination or not, Armando was now officially a member of the church.

(To be continued again. . . .)