The Rug

THE RUG

-from my journal: April 04, 2013-

There is a rug on the floor of my room. It is small and colourful and sometimes it slips under my bed on the hardwood floor. It gets walked on every day and it's ripping at the edges, but it has never gone unnoticed and never been unloved. 4 years ago I found it in my mom's basement in a box full of knick-nacks. It looked familiar and I remembered a similar rug on the floor of my Sister's house. She and her husband had brought them back from Fiji on a trip to the villages there. My mom told me that I could borrow the rug but I had actually asked if I could have it, and so that's exactly what I did! I took it with me to college and when I got to my dorm room at BYU-Hawaii I unrolled it beside my bed before unpacking the few things that I owned. Much of my things had been lost or left behind here and there while moving around. Of everything I brought with me I quickly became attached to this rug. I loved the different colours and even though it was new to me it felt the most like home.

The rug came to symbolize "home". Wherever I lived it came. It tied together whatever else I had and became the accent of whatever room it was in. When things got rough I would kneel on the rug and pray. It comforted me. Even the times when I forgot to pray... stopped praying... the rug remained. When I lived in my car it was spread out in the back seat. When I lived in a tool shed, there it sat in the middle of the floor. Bright and inviting, laying right next to my bed. Never pestering. Always comforting. And always welcoming me home. inviting me to kneel on it.

Through all that I've put it through the rug has remained in-tact. IT still brightens each day with it's vibrant colours. It has faded but the markings and stains only show how diligent it's been in fulfilling it's purpose. It has been my companion and comforter for these four years but I feel like I've had it my whole life. The rug is "home". The rug is my Savior.

HELLO
family friends loved ones and strangers

hello almost autumn and cold and crunchy leaves
hello almost Christmas (because really, Halloween is horrible)

It's been a long time since I've lived somewhere with seasons and it's so stinkin' AWESOME to stomp around in the leaves and watch everything change. I finally feel justified for singing Christmas songs and wearing hoodies and thick socks. Ok. Almost justified.

ANOTHER WEEK

seriously I have no idea where the time is going. Slow days, fastest weeks. This last week we had a lot of surprises. Bolivarson, the homeless man in Chelsea that begged us to help him saying that he knew we could help him; he knows we know the way! He had the most sincere eyes I have ever seen and you may think I'm crazy for saying it but I think he was pretty serious about the whole thing. We spent about an hour with him. I guess we'll find out when we see him again, if we see him again. Either way, he led us to someone else! We met "pollo guy" at a restaurant where we got Bolivarson some dinner. He used to have the elders over a long time ago and turns out he's our neighbor!  We met Holly at a bus stop in Chelsea, too. She and her husband moved here from Michigan and have a pretty standard life. He works at a law firm in Boston. She does volunteer environmental work. They're well into their 60's and have settled into a simple lifestyle of work, eating at new restaurants, and going on walks (talking to birds. Funny lady). She has met missionaries many times and even let them in her home often when they lived in Michigan. She taught me something that I wasn't expecting to learn. She said "If you ever want to truly see the beauty of God, go scuba diving". I am TERRIFIED of underwater but when she told me that I instantly changed my mind. I went home and added "scuba diving" to my Bucketlist.

ACCENTS

Hermana Laudie is hilarious. Absolutely positively hilarious. Her ability to mimic Bostonian accents astounds me and we find ourselves speaking in thick, attitude driven accents all the time. More often than I'd like to admit, actually. If we're not speaking like Bostonians we're rattling on in British accents and then as soon as we get to work again rolls along into Spanish. We joke that when we get home (inevitably with accents of some kind...) you will ask us, "why do you have an accent?" and we'll say, "I don't. I'm only doing it for fun." to which you will inquire, "Ok then stop it and speak normal again" and we'll justify it by simply saying, "No. I want to keep having fun."

BEST THINGS TO SAY
in a Bostonian accent:

1) If I had a cheesecake I'dda eaten' the whole thing by now.

2) You want me to hit you? Cuz that's what's comin in a minute or two!

BEST THING TO SAY IN A BRITISH ACCENT

1) What on Earth are you doin'?!

BEST THING TO SAY LIKE THE JOKER

1) POP! GOES THE WEASEL (whenever the ice cream truck goes by playing it's song)

BEST THING TO SAY IN A CHIPMUNK VOICE

1) *GASP* you drew on the Lord's table with a sharpie!!

I'd say that's about enough out of me for now. We're waiting for the elders to finish emailing. They take a really really long time. So if you know any elders make sure that you write to them because they really love it! Or maybe stop writing to them so that we can go have fun on P-days :) Either one is good for me.

Here's to another great week!

LIFE IS A MISSION!

Hermana Emily Hileman