Stories That are Told and Told Again

The Secret of The Bear

by Ammon

I had a mission companion fresh from the MTC who left a first impression on me similar to the one portrayed in The Best Two Years (Turns out I was the goofier of the two of us).

As he finished unpacking his things the first day in our apartment there was a lone teddy bear sitting on his bed. I was curious but cautious, so I said nothing.

A week or so later we visited missionaries in another city and were planning to stay the night there. An unexpected phone call informed us we were to host two other missionaries in our apartment that evening and had to rush to catch the last train home. My companion was not ready to leave so an Elder from the other companionship joined me for the frantic bike ride to the train stop.

The next evening when I returned to our apartment with my companion I apologized for the visiting Elders who had looked through some photos on his desk. He looked at me a little surprised and said, “Oh no! You found out the secret of the bear.” We had not, so I simply smiled and said, “The bear has a secret?” He explained that the bear was from his girlfriend and had a recorded message from her.

A few months later when his girlfriend had stopped writing and his mother informed him his girlfriend was busy with school and her social life he was saddened. He was a good Elder and didn’t let it bother him much, at least he didn’t show it.

One night after he received a discouraging letter we talked about it for a while. As I was getting up from our conversation I accidentally bumped the bear… Out came the recorded message, “I promise I’ll love you forever.” I felt awful and was thinking over what I could say to fix the situation when my companion grabbed the bear and threw it across the room while screaming, “Liar!!!” Needless to say he wasn’t too bothered by the loss after that.