The Tale of Armando, Part 1
This morning as I was preparing my Sunday School, my thoughts happened down a random path of memory from my own mission. (This week's lesson had to do with the conversion of the people of Ammon, so missionary work was on my brain.) One experience of mine came to mind-- it was both funny and sad and scary and something I regret (though there was little I could have changed about what happened). I've mentioned it just in passing before on the blog, but I've never shared the full story. Without further ado, let me tell you the tale of a sister missionary named Hermana Leavitt and a boy named Armando.
One of the absolute hardest things for me as a missionary was talking to random strangers and trying to persuade them to let you come teach them about the gospel. I've struggled all my life with shyness. . . I'm a natural introvert and when it comes to people I don't know very well I clam up and find it painful to try and speak at all. But one afternoon just a few months into my mission, my companion and I were in a busy square in Queens when I had a sudden burst of confidence and actually initiated a conversation or two on my own with some people sitting by a statue in the square. On an impulse I approached a young man who turned out to be more than willing to invite us to his home to share a message with him and his landlady. He gave me his name-- Armando-- and his address and set an appointment with us on the spot.
Our first visit went very well. My companion and I were actually more excited about his landlady, truth be told. This was a typical apartment in Queens where more than one family was living in one apartment. His landlady Reina and her husband sublet space to Armando and several other people. Reina was so enthusiastic about our lesson about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and we were hopeful that we would be able to introduce the gospel to everyone in the apartment. We very quickly learned that this was not very likely to happen though. The others in the apartment were not interested, and worse, Reina's husband turned out to be an abusive man who didn't want her to have any more discussions with us. She told us that she would not be able to participate anymore, but she would still be "present" so that we could teach the discussions to Armando.
We continued the discussions with Armando but my companion started to get suspicious of the way that Armando would stare at me throughout a lesson. She took defensive action by having me pretty much disengage during the discussions-- I would sit there silently, and she would teach and try to hold a conversation with Armando. Really, I think my companion wanted to drop our visits to Armando altogether, but since Reina sat in with him to chaperone, we felt that at least Reina might have a chance to learn something, even if she wouldn't be able to go to church or get baptized.
One day Reina let us in for our appointment acting very strangely. She said that we couldn't have our discussion in the kitchen like normal and led us to the bedroom in the back of the apartment. We were a bit uneasy, but I wondered if her husband was home and she didn't want him to cross paths with us or something. But then she brought in Armando and told us that he had something important to tell us. Then she walked out of the room and locked us in.
I started to get claustrophobic within minutes. And something was just not right. Worse, it seemed like Armando was never going to get around to telling us whatever was so important we needed to be alone in the back bedroom with him to hear. Armando was even more reserved than me (tough one, that) and he only confessed to us after at least AN HOUR of prodding by my companion that he couldn't be baptized because the only reason that he was continuing to have discussions with us was because he was in love with one of us. He never said which one (and never looked either of us in the eyes during this very long hour) but both Holly and I knew exactly who he meant.
Looking back, it's not a surprise. The young (he was only 19) immigrant kid fresh from his home country who very shy, suddenly gets approached by a young American woman who is friendly and treating him like a important person and wants to come visit him. . . well, he must have been extremely flattered. If it had been Holly would had originally spoke to him, he probably would have fallen head over heels for her instead.
Fortunately for us, not long after Armando managed to get his none-too-surprising confession of his chest, Reina let us out of the room. We politely informed both Reina and Armando that we wished them well, but that we would not be returning for any more visits and left as quickly as we could.
I thought that would be the end of it, but how very wrong I was.
(To be continued. . . .)
One of the absolute hardest things for me as a missionary was talking to random strangers and trying to persuade them to let you come teach them about the gospel. I've struggled all my life with shyness. . . I'm a natural introvert and when it comes to people I don't know very well I clam up and find it painful to try and speak at all. But one afternoon just a few months into my mission, my companion and I were in a busy square in Queens when I had a sudden burst of confidence and actually initiated a conversation or two on my own with some people sitting by a statue in the square. On an impulse I approached a young man who turned out to be more than willing to invite us to his home to share a message with him and his landlady. He gave me his name-- Armando-- and his address and set an appointment with us on the spot.
Our first visit went very well. My companion and I were actually more excited about his landlady, truth be told. This was a typical apartment in Queens where more than one family was living in one apartment. His landlady Reina and her husband sublet space to Armando and several other people. Reina was so enthusiastic about our lesson about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and we were hopeful that we would be able to introduce the gospel to everyone in the apartment. We very quickly learned that this was not very likely to happen though. The others in the apartment were not interested, and worse, Reina's husband turned out to be an abusive man who didn't want her to have any more discussions with us. She told us that she would not be able to participate anymore, but she would still be "present" so that we could teach the discussions to Armando.
We continued the discussions with Armando but my companion started to get suspicious of the way that Armando would stare at me throughout a lesson. She took defensive action by having me pretty much disengage during the discussions-- I would sit there silently, and she would teach and try to hold a conversation with Armando. Really, I think my companion wanted to drop our visits to Armando altogether, but since Reina sat in with him to chaperone, we felt that at least Reina might have a chance to learn something, even if she wouldn't be able to go to church or get baptized.
One day Reina let us in for our appointment acting very strangely. She said that we couldn't have our discussion in the kitchen like normal and led us to the bedroom in the back of the apartment. We were a bit uneasy, but I wondered if her husband was home and she didn't want him to cross paths with us or something. But then she brought in Armando and told us that he had something important to tell us. Then she walked out of the room and locked us in.
I started to get claustrophobic within minutes. And something was just not right. Worse, it seemed like Armando was never going to get around to telling us whatever was so important we needed to be alone in the back bedroom with him to hear. Armando was even more reserved than me (tough one, that) and he only confessed to us after at least AN HOUR of prodding by my companion that he couldn't be baptized because the only reason that he was continuing to have discussions with us was because he was in love with one of us. He never said which one (and never looked either of us in the eyes during this very long hour) but both Holly and I knew exactly who he meant.
Looking back, it's not a surprise. The young (he was only 19) immigrant kid fresh from his home country who very shy, suddenly gets approached by a young American woman who is friendly and treating him like a important person and wants to come visit him. . . well, he must have been extremely flattered. If it had been Holly would had originally spoke to him, he probably would have fallen head over heels for her instead.
Fortunately for us, not long after Armando managed to get his none-too-surprising confession of his chest, Reina let us out of the room. We politely informed both Reina and Armando that we wished them well, but that we would not be returning for any more visits and left as quickly as we could.
I thought that would be the end of it, but how very wrong I was.
(To be continued. . . .)
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