No, seriously.
I met another missionary during my mission, about 10 years ago, who was lost. He was there because he was supposed to be there, but didn't have a good understanding of the gospel, had never read the BoM, etc... We ended up sharing an apartment (with different companions) and quickly became friends. We read together, studied together, and I believe that through this experience, he really began to appreciate the spirit, the gospel, and especially, the scriptures. Once I got transferred, we remained close, and though he now lives on another continent, we have kept contact (Facebook, email, etc.).
Now, almost a decade later, he tells me that he is no longer going to church, no longer reading the scriptures, though he DOES profess to believe in God. He also tells me that he is gay.
That led to an exchange of doctrine involving references to scripture, references from lds.org, etc. The whole time I made sure that he knew that I don't believe that it is "okay" top be in a homosexual relationship, and kind of left it at that. He told me he would look through things and get back to me.
We kept up sporadically, talking about movies, games, etc., but nothing spiritually-related. Nearly a year later, I get a message from a mutual (missionary) friend that this person was threatening to kill himself. I reached out to him, of course, and told him, among other things, that I would always be his friend, would pray for him, etc. You know, be the best friend I can be from half a world away...
Anyways, today I got a long email from the guy, telling me he urgently needed my prayers because he "asked God for a boyfriend," and he feels God led him to "Sam" who lives in the USA, and they're madly in love, but neither can afford to move across the ocean to be together. He wants me to pray for them to get money, or family support, or something...
What the heck am I supposed to do? He knows my position, but I feel I can't exactly "call him to repentance" like I tried to do (gently) before. I also cannot support his wishes or desires, though I really care for him as a friend -- he is one of the kindest, gentlest people I've ever met.
He's extremely overweight (proudly!), and often severely depressed. I've suggested he visit a doctor, and I believe he has -- he's on medication for diabetes (insulin?) but I don't know about depression. Let me know if there's any other relevant information I've left out...
I just feel helpless in this situation.
