1999 - January 10 (THE FIRST MEETING)

(originally posted 03/01/09)

January 10 - Natalie and I were plum exhausted after our ordeal with the pizza, but still prepared for church the next day. We didn't know which ward we were in or what time it started. We figured that no church could be true that started before 9:00, so we were ready by then. Driving around Mesa all week, we had seen church buildings on nearly every corner and were sure that we wouldn't have a problem finding a ward to attend until we found our real ward. However, we weren't in Mesa anymore. Tempe and Chandler did a better job of hiding their buildings amongst neighborhoods and such, so we seriously couldn't find a building anywhere! We stopped at a gas station to look up some wards and I specifically remember seeing Tempe Buttes (though we laughed because we didn't know how to pronounce it properly). We kept driving until finally we saw a steeple off of Rural and Knox.

We had already been driving around for an hour, so we were happy when we were on time for sacrament meeting at this building. However, we were disappointed that it was someones farewell. We weren't in the mood to sit through someones mom cryin' about missing her son for 2 years. Natalie leaned over and said something about leaving, but I was determined to stay.

I don't remember anyone going out of their way to come and meet us, but somehow we got to Sunday School and Natalie was not happy about being there. As the end of the class came near, Natalie was searching out the exits to see which one would get us out fastest.

WHIT: "We're staying for Relief Society."
NAT: "We are NOT! We went last week!"

I'm not quite sure, but there may have been some pinching going on while Natalie and I were arguing about leaving or not leaving until a nice lady turned around before Relief Society started. She introduced herself and asked us about our story. When we told her that we were just going to this ward until we could find our regular ward, she looked at her watch and said, "Oh, my granddaughter goes to a singles ward that just started 5 minutes ago." She gave us directions and we dashed out.

We had already used up our 3 hour allotment for church that day (2 hours of church, 1 hour of trying to find a church), but we headed to the singles ward anyway. On our way in to the church we picked up a tithing envelope and snickered at the bishop's name . . . Bishop Kent Dibble. That's a funny name. We tried to be sneaky as we quietly crept into the back of the chapel, but everyone could smell fresh meat as their heads turned. They were just starting the sacrament. Seriously, everyone was staring.

There was a handsome young man blessing the sacrament that day. There were also some other fairly attractive young men passing the sacrament. One of them came all the way to the back to sit right next to us after the sacrament was over. He was ready to pounce as soon as the closing prayer was said. He introduced himself as Ryan and offered to show us to our next class. The Relief Society president was next to introduce herself, Laura Leeper. She was very tall and pretty and super nice. Bishop Dibble came to meet us next. He was very soft spoken and wouldn't look us in the eye. I think he knew we were snickering at his last name.

Ryan showed us to the Sunday School class. Natalie and I found some seats and started observing. My eyes caught onto the handsome young man that had blessed the sacrament. He was standing at the front of the room shaking hands with everyone. He sat down towards the end of the row in front of us and put both of his arms along the backs of the seats next to him. He turned his head to the right and behind him and glanced at us for a second, turned his head back forward, and then quickly back to look at us again. He prepared for pouncing the second the closing prayer was said. I got nervous.

ELLIOT: "Hi, I'm Elliot."
WHITNEY: "I'm Whitney."
ELLIOT: "Wendy?"
WHITNEY: "Whit-ney."
ELLIOT: "Wendy?"
WHITNEY: "WHIT-NEY!" (duh, do I mumble that much?)

Through talking in the short amount of time we had before he had to go to priesthood, we had already made a connection of someone I grew up with that served in his same mission to Dominican Republic East (Tad Hansen). As per usual, I was fairly silent and nervous and felt like a dork because I already had a crush on him.

Relief Society went by and Natalie and I were done with the day since we'd been at church for 5 hours. As we headed out to our car, Ryan caught up with us and invited us to dinner at his families home. We already had plans to dine with Uncle David and Aunt Lora, so we declined.

I wrote in my planner that day (because I don't write in my journal) as the people I remembered: Ryan, Laura, Elliott and a big smiley face. I wish Elliot would have asked us to dinner. I totally would have cancelled on UD & AL.