I am NOT here to teach you manners or social skills!

So, recently, especially the last two days, several individuals have felt the need to invite themselves over to my apartment to do whatever my roommates or I are doing - whether they were invited or not. Generally, this is not a bad thing, except for when the same people do it every day, or every single time we plan something. Can we say too much????!!!!!

Let me illustrate...

Yesterday, my roommates and I went berry picking at the farm of a member of our bishopric. It was great fun, and they were wonderful hosts. We couldn't invite a lot of people because their strawberry patch is not very large, and we didn't want to clean them out, not to mention transportation. When we got home, those who had picked berries and a few others made some jam, but only enough jars for those who had helped in some way. This evening, we had a get together for those that had made the jam so that we could all taste-test it together. A young man in my ward overheard me inviting a member of our bishopric to come, and asked if "this was for [him]" and I informed him that no, it was just for those in the bishopric. Apparently, he did not get the hint, because he came over a few minutes before we began our taste-testing (one of our guests had arrived) and made jokes about me not inviting him, and then point-blank asked if he could come back to taste the jam. I very overtly begrudgingly (how do you like those adjectives?) said, "Sure ____. If you want to you can." I'm telling you, if one of our guests had not already arrived and it was just my roommates and I, I would have told him once again that NO he was not invited. The best part of this story is that he never even came back. He sent his roommate instead. I like his roommate. In fact, he's my home teacher and is nothing but nice. My favorite part is that he didn't invite himself, but was invited in when he came over. But really, what's with his roommate? If you're going to make a big deal about not being invited, and invite yourself anywya, the least you could do after getting your way is show up!
MORAL: Don't invite yourself to do something EVER, much less TWICE, especially when food is involved (this being because it causes more work for the host/hostess)!

Second illustration:

At our ward prayer tonight, a member of our ward fainted and fell face first onto cement. Several members of our ward are nursing, or pre-med, and responded quickly, but the rest of us took a while to respond - literally five minutes before the paramedics were called. It took another five minutes for someone to take the initiative to relocate ward prayer and get everyone out of there. Several of us stayed behind to help in whatever way we could. I happen to visit teach the girl's roommate, and so I wasn't leaving. Munch and mingle was supposed to be in the apartment right outside where the girl fainted. For obvious reasons, it was relocated. A young man (different from the one in the above story) came back to pick up the snacks, and, I kid you not, walked around the group that was still waiting for the girl to be loaded on the stretcher, asking if they could help carry stuff over. I understand he had good intentions, but have some sensitivity and tact could you?! Really, there are more important things than feeding the rest of the ward when there's a girl lying semi-concious on the cement patio!!

::::GROAN:::: (A very long, loud, exasperrated, extremely annoyed one)

My roommates and I had a long discussion about this today... One of these young men has been a source of contention in our apartment because he really freaks two of us out, and so we don't go out of our way to be overly nice and welcoming. The other two of us don't think he should be excluded. We finally agreed today that there was no real solution - neither pair was going to be comfortable or happy with the actions of the others or the results of those actions, so we agreed to let it be and not vent or talk about it anymore.

So, that's why I have a blog. A safe way to vent without offending people, because no one reads this anyway. Heck, only a couple people know I even have a blog. I don't know, my personal feeling is, I'm not here to teach you manners or social skills. I'm not here to entertain or feed you. And quite frankly, if you weren't here all the time, maybe I would be more inclined to actually invite you to join my friends and I when we do fun things. I'm all about seeing the big picture. I understand you're a child of God, and that he loves you. I know he can help me to love you too if I pray for it, I've had it happen. And really, I will pray for that... I've been really struggling lately with loving certain people that I interact with regularly. I shouldn't be so calloused and rude - I'm sure that's not becoming in a lady... But I do reach a limit - it's one of the many reasons why I'm still here and not translated yet. I know I have a lot to learn, but, my focus now is on perfecting me, and overcoming all of my imperfections - not teaching you manners or social skills. Wow... That sounds really selfish and mean... It's not a good day for me on the charity scale.