One of the more interesting things about moving across the
country has been trying to find a place to live. Portland, ME is not like Provo where they are
used to signing contracts for missionaries who are not in the country or students
who are moving out for school in September.
I Portland all the landlords want to meet us in person or have us come
see the apartment before we can sign a contract. In some ways I don’t blame them, but it’s
making life a little difficult. We are
already spending a ton of money moving out there, we really don’t want to pay
for a plane ticket on top of it all. So
we decided to use our church network to make contact.
For those who don’t know The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints is run by a mostly lay ministry. In other words each congregation (or ward) is
entirely staffed by volunteers. The ward
is headed by a bishop who is a man picked from the congregation to lead and
care for the ward members, usually he serves for about 5 years. Also important
to the upcoming story member of the LDS church attend the ward they are
geographically assigned.
Anyway, sorry for the explanatory tangent, I was able to
look up the information and phone numbers of the bishops who lead the two wards
we could end up living in. We have been
leaning towards living in a smaller community south of Portland because housing
is more affordable than in Portland itself, and it will only be a 20 minute
commute for David from school. So I
called the bishop of that ward first. Bishop
S. didn’t answer right away so I left a message on his phone and decided, might
as well call the other bishop while I’m at it. Bishop P. answered and we got to talking. He was very friendly and warm telling me all
about how many student families live in the ward and where the students lived,
as well as where we should avoid living.
We talked about our moving plans for a while and the community. He said he would be looking for us in July
and we hung up. Very pleasant and
helpful. Then I looked up the apartment
complex he said most of the students live in.
I’m not going to put money numbers up here but let’s leave it at this,
there is no way we could afford to live there and I have no idea how anyone in
grad-school could afford to live there.
I’m not judging them, I assume they have some secret way of making money
I don’t know about but David and I could not afford to live there.
As I was having a panic attack and break down over this
apartment complex Bishop S. called me back.
Now I want to make it very clear that Bishop P. was kind, friendly, and
helpful everything I was expecting. Bishop S. however was EXCITED! He was soo friendly, soo kind, and soo
helpful. He asked personal questions
about each of us, if we would need any furniture or things when we came, and
for contact information so he could keep in touch with us as we prepare to
move. He also offered to help us
apartment shop. “I’m already looking for
an apartment for some new missionaries we are getting so I can look around for
you.” I told him what we were looking
for and what we were hoping to pay. He then
very sweetly asked about if we were willing to go up a little if heat was
included. And then he explained how heat
out there is oil not gas or electric and how expensive that is. (Perhaps my
east coast friends are laughing at me for not knowing about that, but I had no
clue about how that all worked.) Any
way, we exchanged numbers and email and he said he would be checking on us
every month but if we ever had any questions or issues to call him so he could
help us. This experience was beyond
amazing and exactly what I needed at that moment.
I’m still not sure which ward we will end up in but I am so
grateful to know that either way we will have wonderful and welcoming people
waiting on the other end of the line.
This will be such an adventure and I’m so excited for it.
