Too Late to Apologize

Finally the classic Grasley dry sense of humor comes back to bite me in the butt. It was only a matter of time.

 

I was joking around with some members and they accidentally took me seriously and got offended (it doesn't help that sarcasm is a foreign language to Mexicans). Of course, I had no idea because they just laughed and seemed to think it was a funny joke. So I went the whole week without any idea that anything was up. Then I got to PEC on Sunday and I knew I was in trouble when the Mexican member of the Branch Presidency started grilling me on if we had dinner with a certain sister on Sunday. The funny thing is that the member that took offense was sitting right in the room and didn't seem to have the courtesy to explain things himself instead of letting the rumor mill take care of it. They aren't kidding when they say that gossip spreads like wildfire in this branch.

 

At first I was pretty mad. I was mad at myself for letting something like that happen and I was also mad that the members who got offended didn't see fit to talk to me about it and instead told everyone else. I literally had no idea there were any bad feelings. There was no hint of that in the dinner we had. So I was in a pretty foul mood during Sunday school. I was just mad that a thing that wasn't a big deal had been blown out of proportion to the point of accusing me in PEC. Fortunately, Sacrament Meeting rolled around. I used the Sacrament as a time to reflect and see what the Lord would have me do. The anger and frustration went away and instead I had a sense of peace and a clear direction for what I should do. All of the bad feelings left and for the rest of Church I felt calm and peaceful.

 

So after Church I went over to the people's house and apologized. I didn't want this thing to get any bigger or go any further than it already had. I explained that, even though I didn't say I was joking, I thought it was pretty clear that I was. They took it pretty well. They were very gracious to accept my apology. I also asked that if there's ever a similar mistake to talk with me first and see if we can resolve it before dragging others into the whole mess. Overall it all ended well and things are now back to normal. Thankfully. I hate the latino tendency to drama. There seems to sometimes be a tendency to make things way bigger than they actually are.

 

So I learned some good lessons from this whole thing. First of all, I learned what member family not to joke around with. I've joked around with a lot of Mexicans on my mission and this is the first time I've ever had an experience like this. I also learned that even if you feel like things have been blown out of proportion that sometimes it's better just to take the fall and apologize. I guess this experience was good training for the future if I ever unintentionally offend someone from some other calling in the Church. I definitely have seen a lot of people who randomly get offended by bishops just for silly things that the bishops didn't even intend or realize. So lesson learned, say you're sorry and just nip the thing in the bud as soon as you find out. Also, if someone offends you, talk with them first and if it doesn't get resolved, then bring other people in.

 

So yeah, that was a fun little piece of drama to finish out the week. But other than that, the week was pretty awesome. We had 7 people at Church and have 5 people right now with a date for baptism in September. There's a lot to do even in a tiny branch like this. I've been really enjoying it. Sedona's pretty sweet. Apparently it's filled with vortexes. There's some dude who calls himself the god of Sedona who had plans to jump into one of the vortexes at the bottom of a canyon and fight the devil. More power to him. You fight that devil, god of Sedona.

 

It was also my week for tasting new meats. Final verdict: liver bad, tongue good, pigskin good. The liver had a way nasty aftertaste. But what can you expect from the organ that processes all of the gross chemicals in the body? Tongue tasted normal. It was sort of like head meat but less fatty. The pig skin wasn't too bad either.

 

Today we're going on a hike to see some Indian ruins. A guy who's gonna get baptized this month in one of the English wards is taking us. I'm excited. It should be cool.

 

So everything's going great here in Cottonwood. I like it here. September especially is shaping up to be a great month.

 

Love,

Elder Grasley