One of the most challenging and rewarding parts of my mission were the relationships I had with my companions. I loved my companions, but I would say that for the most part, none of my companions quite matched my level of energy with maybe one exception. Some were pretty close, but for me that was the hardest of all the problems. It was amazing how much a companion could influence how much money I had on my card or how many calories I consumed or how many miles I walked in a day.
I thought most of my companions were challenging in some way and then I go assigned to Hermana Jarvis. She was a whole other category of mission companions. On one hand, she was hilarious. I couldn't help but love her outgoing, loud and stand-up comic-esque personality. She was a lot of fun--unless you wanted to be serious about missionary work. She had a tendency to be sick or need to go see doctors or have a migraine or any number of ailments when I would rather be working. She was convinced that she would find her future husband on her missionary and was always flirting with the elders we worked with.
It is funny how at the time I was with my companions, I felt like it would never end. But then eventually it did. And looking at it in the past, the experience was almost totally positive. With Jarvis, I remember how we laughed at the crazy man that would yell at us from behind bars on our walking route. I remember when she was accusing a man in English (thinking he only spoke Spanish) of taking the ice cream bar she wanted at the store when he started talking in perfect English. I remember our pact to be at each other's weddings and how she was leading the singing in sacrament meeting for "Away in a Manger" and she was belting out the written melody but the congregation was singing the version from the primary songbook.
She wanted to come to my wedding with "Bob" as we lovingly referred to Rob. She came and stayed with me the weekend before our wedding and was our "chaperone," a weekend Rob will not ever forget.
In the title, I said she taught me to loosen up. Most people who know me well would argue that probably didn't actually happen. But believe it or not, she did help me loosen up. I had been so uptight about spending every single second of my mission doing what I should and working hard but with Jarvis that just wasn't possible. I found I needed to really focus on loving her and doing my best with what I could. She was my second to last companion and I trained my last companion. I was a totally different missionary by that time than when I started. I had learned that people are more important than being perfect or being right or turning in the best numbers.
