Sometimes the regular trials and things we read about in the scriptures must not be enough to make us thankful, so roommates and run-down apartments get thrown in.

After all, they make great “storimonies.”

“I am grateful I am still alive today. Even though my water heater caught on fire, the managers didn’t look at it for a few hours, and when they did, the wires snapped and they told us it should have blown up the day before.

I am most especially thankful the fire was not regular flames; just red-hot with sparks, like when people work with metal. I know we are all thankful the insulation around the heater was only a little burnt.

Most of all, I am thankful my roommate saved us all from disasterous showers when she noticed the ceiling was lower than usual from leaking water throughout the night. I am also glad that my roommates were able to find creative uses for the moldy insulation that covered the bathroom when the ceiling collapsed.

I am really proud of my roommates for their genius in boiling water on the stove to wash our hair with when the water heater broke again.

As for my roommates, I am grateful for some of the games they played with me. After all, it was fun to guess where food was disappearing to. I am also glad that when I came home from Scroll and saw the police in my apartment it was not because we had been robbed, but rather because my roommate was in need of serious help.

I am so thankful I had roommates with me as we weren’t allowed to answer the phone for reasons that will remain unsaid to protect the innocent.

I am really proud of my roommates for keeping me from being a lazy person who sleeps in until 8 a.m. by getting up to call their boyfriends and talking really loud right outside my bedroom door. The ones who sang at the top of their lungs at 6 a.m. are also appreciated.

I love my roommates for the many times they try to surprise me as I turn the corner of the hall.

The cake fights at 2 a.m., along with the accompanying shrieks and calls from girls downstairs, are also great fun.

I am thankful for talent in our apartment, especially on musical nights when songs are sung like “The Butter is Hard as a Brick.”

I am very thankful for the chance I have had to have such a wide range of roommates, who practiced Spanish with me and set me up on some amazing blind dates with ‘nice boys.’”

While I have learned a lot from the classes I have attended, the most important lessons have come from the roommates I have lived with.