Announcement

Instructions

Hey everyone! So... I can assume you weren't expecting to hear from me for quite some time. In my defense, I wasn't expecting to be back. It's pretty complicated, and I won't go into all the details, but I'll try to explain things. First of all, it's pretty bittersweet to be back. I'm happy to be back, but it also took a lot to get to this point. I thought about my friends here often while I was gone. I'll try not to go too deep into detail with this. In short, I was out of my home state for about three months. I wasn't out of the country. Through all those months, I had huge waves of depression and anxiety. Some days it was just there and i was able to manage it, but other days I was crippled. I kept waiting for it to get better; I kept telling myself I just had to keep going, that I'd adjust to it soon. Granted, some of it has to be attributed to the withdrawal of all my usual coping mechanisms. But as the weeks went by and I was still having really bad days, I didn't know if I could keep going. I had some great companions and some fun experiences, but even as I was trying to be the best missionary I could, my anxiety and depression didn't go away. My companion at the time brought up serving a service mission. The service mission is still a mission, but very different from a proselyting mission (Which is the traditional mission people think about.) The rules are a lot less strict and it's customizable for people with all kinds of issues preventing them from serving a proselyting mission. I prayed and fasted for an answer, and I received a lot of confirmation that the best thing for me to do was to go home, serve a service mission, and get the help I needed. It was really scary to come home. There was a lot of people who were really supporting me and I didn't want to let those people down. I didn't know what a service mission might look like besides what my companion had told me. Most of all, I didn't want to seem like I was flaking out. Yes, part of me did miss my typical coping mechanisms: Video Games, YouTube, even my online friends. I didn't want people to think I was coming home for that. But I talked with my mission president, and he agreed that this was the best option for me. This was about 5.5 months ago. It's a long story about what happened between then and now. I started learning more about the service mission, trying to work through all that. I also began working with therapists and psychiatrists to figure out what's going on inside. I'm still trying to work through all that as well. My depression has been improving a lot, which is a big success, but my journey is far from over. Now, the point of this, the reason I'm here. So, a few weeks ago I had a therapy appointment where my councillor suggested having my online friends back would improve my mental health. He suggested bringing it up to my mission president to see if it would be okay. My mission president said he wasn't opposed, if it helped me feel the spirit more. I wasn't sure. Yes, it would be awesome to have my friends back, but I wanted to show God I was willing to put Him first above everything else. I didn't know if I'd be able to have my friends without being distracted from my duties as a service missionary, and I knew my mom would have things to say about it. The next day though, I had a strong spiritual feeling- stronger than I've felt in a long time- that prompted me to return online. To preach God's gospel and be an example. To show my friends Christlike love. So... I came back. Unfortunately, I think my time here on Scratch is at an end. I think I've outgrown this platform, and as much as I've loved my time here, I just don't think I am really meant for this place. That's why, I'll be moving all my online interactions to (a certain site I can't mention directly here.) I'd love to have you there. See if https://that chord.gg/ Myw K F e 64D That being said, I'm not back just to have fun, though I hope we can have fun. I have a purpose to keep in mind. I have standards to follow. But God's generously allowed me to reunite with my friends and maybe have a shot of being with them for eternity. So yeah. I think that's things explained. I guess I don't have much else to say. I guess just... Thanks all of you for being here for me.