"None of them."
Haha, what? I was half expecting a 'just kidding!' but when that never came, I asked, "How? There has to be at least one área that you prefer over the rest."
He responds, "No, because there isn't anywhere in the mission that I would like to be. I learned everything I needed to learn from the mission in my training, so basically, I've just been waiting for the last 21 months to pass so I can go home already."
This missionary doesn't get it.
One year ago, I stood in front of the Lynbrook Ward and declared, quite arrogantly, to be completely honest, "I have come to understand that there's something to be learned from everyone you meet and everything that happens." While I was right, I didn't understand the truth of my own words. I was pretty sure when I boarded that plane and headed for México that I had learned everything that I needed to know from serving a mission from the time I spent with the missionaries the year leading up to my mission, and that my life was set. I just needed to finish the 2 years to say I did it and live the rest of my life being awesome.
And then I got off that plane, and I realized that this was not the case. I've had 7 companions, some of them easier to get along with than others. I've been in 3 areas, some of them more suitable for human life than others. I've taught hundreds of lessons, some of them more spiritual than others. I've received a few thousand rejections, some more creative than others.
One year later, and I can promise you I'm NOT the same kid that I was. From every experience, I learn. I learn and the Lord takes another opportunity to make me closer and closer into the man that He hopes I become someday. I learn, and from that experience, my testimony grows, and when I share that testimony with those I teach, their testimony grows. I learn, and I change. I'm still Tyler. I'm still the funniest guy I know. I still yearn for the day I can down a Mountain Dew. I still dance like a boss and I still have more swag than Justin Beiber in 2012 when swag was a thing. But I'm not the same. And I can't be the same. Because the man I'm becoming is so much better than the kid I was.
I before I left Chilpancingo, I was talking to a missionary who is now also days away from going home. She told me that a mission only lasts 1 year and 5 minutes, and said, "So be careful. You only have 5 minutes left." I'm so excited for these next 5 minutes that I get to apply everything that the Lord has taught me, and yes, learn more and more and more, so that some day I just might become the man the Lord hopes I become.
Happy Hump Day, fam. I hope everyone has a great week! I love all y'all and I'll see ya in a year!
-Elder Aldrich
PICTURES
1) Because I know how much you missed my Acapulco sunsets.
2&3) El bautismo de Joselyn, Sherlyn, y Elizabeth. Woo hoo! But they didn't show up to church yesterday, so they didn't get confirmed, and I'm stressed out of my mind.
4) In the missions that aren't cool enough to get iPads, decorating the agenda is a thing. So this is how I decorated mine in honor of #HUMPDAY.
