Part 29: My First Sunday Back

 A couple hours went by. We got home from Christmas dinner and were spending the last few hours of Christmas as a family. My phone started to buzz again and it showed a Messenger notification. Elder Jensen kept his word and messaged me again. He was talking to me about how great the young adult wards were in Calgary and how he loves to have friends over for parties. We kept chatting until he revisited his unanswered question about where I was currently attending church. I hated this question, especially from missionaries. If I told the truth, it would turn into a lecture about how I should go and how it's the best place, etc. I've had this conversation before, and I did not like it. 

I thought about my response and decided to say, "I don't really have a ward right now. I don't like to go to church and I don't really like to talk about it." I thought it was polite enough, I set a good boundary. I thought surely he would stop talking to me now. I wasn't a good lead for missionary work, which was the only reason any of these guys actually wanted to talk to me. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want him to stop messaging me, I just didn't see the point. But this guy, subtle but brilliant, hits me with this: "Okay. We don't have to talk about it. But I'm speaking in church on Sunday if you want to come." 

Now, this was a sly move, one that could be interpreted in a few different ways. Maybe he was just a missionary doing his job, inviting someone less active to come to church. That was most likely the case, and I was all too familiar with that tactic. Or maybe he had realized I wasn’t the weirdo who had flirted with all the missionaries and actually wanted to get to know me. That was also possible. Or, obviously, he wanted to marry me and was my future husband. Yeah, right.

I started to scroll through Elder Jensen's Facebook and look at all of his mission photos. He was cute, and he was easy to talk to. I have been wanting to form a connection with him for awhile, since I was friends with a lot of his friends. He was also going to be good to have around if I did end up moving to Calgary. With all of this in mind, I accepted his offer and said that I would be at church that weekend to hear him speak. 

This would be the first time that I had attended a church service in months. I debated backing out quite a few times but I couldn't shake the feeling that I should go. I knew it would probably be awkward, because I have had three in-person conversations with this man, none of which were super smooth. But I remembered how I had enjoyed his lesson, the first time I ever met him over Zoom, and I figured he would deliver a good message in church. So Sunday comes, I figured the best way to help this go smoothly was to dress nicely, and act confident. Who cares that I hadn't been in months, or that he was basically a complete stranger to me, or that I didn't know if they were expecting me to sit with them. I marched through the front doors and saw Elder Jensen standing at the doors of the chapel in Langley, greeting people as they came inside. It was about two minutes until the meeting started, so I walk right up to him, hold my hand out and say, "Hi! It's been awhile, how are you?" I was trying to act confident. He gave me the biggest smile, he was so happy to see me there. 

It turns out that he wasn't actually speaking in church. He didn't lie to me, he actually had been asked to speak but there had been a miscommunication and someone else had also prepared to speak. Due to the mix-up, he was able to sit next to me. He was a really nice guy, but I was still a bit sore from Jake's sudden departure and honestly still sore from Gaston's sudden departure too. But we sat together with his companion and listened to the meeting. At one point I was feeling a bit anxious and I leaned over and said, "I haven't been here for awhile" and he says, "I know. It's okay." 

At one point during the church service, Elder Jensen and I share a hymn book. One of the lyrics to the song is funny and we both laugh. After the meeting, he asks if I have a bit of time to chat with him and his companion. Again, I know that this is a missionary trap. They want to do a lesson with me and corner me about not coming to church anymore and ask me what I learned today. I really want to tell him that I have to go, but my goodness, this guy was really smiley. He was just so happy and excited to be alive. Before I know it, I've agreed to stay after and chat with them. He told me to wait one second, and I watch him go over to an older man in the ward and shake his hand and ask how he's doing. He's polite too, and everyone really likes him. 

When the three of us sit down, we small talk. We talk more about Calgary and Lethbridge, and our families. I'm not used to talking to guys that want to talk in person. They usually want to get all deep over text and then act cool in person. But Elder Jensen was referencing things that I had said over text and had remembered things that I had said and stories I had told. Eventually it gets brought up that I haven't been going to church. I figured it would, but it is brought up so casually, with no pressure and he is just so easy to talk to. We ended up talking for three hours, and on our way to our cars, he waved to the primary kids and said hello. He's good around kids too. 

When we all get to the parking lot, Elder Jensen says that if I want to pick this conversation up again, we could meet at the Tim Hortons close by in a few weeks. That sounds like a nice idea, and this is the type of guy that I want to be friends with.