it's a love story {part 2}

If you missed part 1, find it here!

Part Two - A Surprise

In single student wards at BYU, there's this thing called FHE. It's actually a part of any time of life as a Mormon, because FHE stands for Family Home Evening. Basically, it's once a week where families all get together to spend time together and to teach and learn about spiritual things, because the best spiritual teaching happens not at church, but in the home. What we learn at church should supplement the things we're already learning at home.

Anyways, so since you're away from your family when you're at college, FHE groups are created by putting an apartment of girls with an apartment of guys to form a pseudo family. One girl and one guy act as the "mom and dad" of the family--basically only meaning that they're in charge of planning the activities and delegating responsibilities for FHE. 

Our apartment was paired with . . . you guessed it! Russ's apartment. 

I was assigned to be the "mom" and . . . you guessed it! Russ was assigned--just kidding. 

Russ's brother Lance was actually assigned to be the "dad." And since I had a little crush on Lance by this point, I was excited about this arrangement because it meant we'd be doing some planning together each week.

However, I ended up not pursuing anything with Lance, because that best friend/roommate of mine that I mentioned in part 1 also had a crush on him, and I still had my missionary, so I did nothing in hopes that she would pursue him. Thank goodness I didn't date Russ's brother first. I mean, awkward! Haha :)

The first or second time our FHE group met, I don't remember what we did, I only remember a little surprise. 

I remember that Russ was wearing this hat, backwards, just like in this picture. And I remember having the thought, "Wow, he's way different than I thought. He would be fun to date! But he has his girlfriend, and I have my missionary, so, oh well!"

Just like that. 

I wasn't sad that we couldn't date--it didn't phase me at all. And I don't particularly know why I thought he'd be so fun to date, but for some reason that hat just made him look--and act--like a way different person than who I'd expected him to be based on our first meeting. 

**I still thinks he looks super sexy every time he wears that hat :)

So despite that quick thought, I kept living my life. I kept writing to my missionary, as well as dating two different guys--one for just two days, the other for twelve. I'm not afraid to try something [or someone] new, so I had no inhibitions about getting into relationships, but I also know very quickly if it will work or not, as evidenced by the brevity of those two relationships. In the end, I knew I didn't want to give up my missionary for either of those guys. 

I think by this point, I decided to give up dating while my missionary was gone because "no one else would ever measure up."

It was about that time that a huge shift occurred and God decided to alter my life plans :)

Stay tuned for the next chapter in our story!

**ashleynicole