november 13

I am grateful for MY ROOMMATES.

Before I came to school (I'm sure I've mentioned this somewhere on my blog) I really felt the spirit telling me that this was an acceptable place to live. I felt good about Perkins and also about being in 116.It's been hard for me to adjust to living with other people ... but my roommates are pretty great. They are always giggling or getting up to some kind of trouble. I love my roommates for the lessons that they've taught me, especially.

Mara has been teaching me how to be a better friend. I confessed to her near the beginning of the semester that I didn't think I had ever had a true "best friend" besides my sister and she simply said, "I'll be your friend, Laney." After that, I really started to figure out what it meant to be a friend and to have a friend. We told each other a ton of things about each other late in the night. We went and did things together. I am so grateful for this lesson. For the rest of my life, I want to try to be as good a friend as I can be.

Dani has been teaching me about life in general. She is rarely ever openly frustrated or sad, which is sometimes hard to interpret, but it also shows me that being happy-go-lucky and friendly around others is better than complaining and whining. She is super thoughtful towards everyone and doesn't wait to be asked to serve. She just finds the opportunity do serve and does it. I've also learned from her that it is better to do things for the right reasons than to do them just so everyone else can see you doing them.

Megan has taught me a lot about humility. She came from a very different background than the typical Mormon family, but she is striving to overcome that. She is a really good listener and can always tell when something is not quite right with someone else. On a not strictly complimentary note, she is like the mom of our apartment. Every pot, pan, dish, and utensil in the house is basically hers. She does a wonderful job deep cleaning for clean check.

There's definitely been drama in 116, but I think that we are all learning what it means to think about people other than ourselves. The semester is more than half-way through (which is SO HARD TO BELIEVE), and I think we're finally starting to catch on to each other. It may not always be perfect, but I am glad that I live here.

FIVE MORE WEEKS UNTIL MY MISSION.