Futuremissionary@.....

I have been doing a lot of reflecting lately and many blog posts have been created in the offices of my brain and then never processed.  I am feeling a bit backed up (It has been only a year since my last post...)   One thing on my mind and has been for a very long time.  Years to be exact, is a certain family that I do not think knows made such an impact in my life.  I even made a special trip to visit them in their home and all the kids came to visit.  I chickened out and did not tell them what their example did for me at that time in my life.

I remember a friend who went to Seminary with me.  His mom was the teacher of our little Seminary group and every morning we sat on the little couch in their home or at the church and tried to stay awake and learn from the scriptures.  I honestly do not remember much from what was taught.  (She was a great teacher, I was just a distracted, tired teenage girl.) I do remember recognizing the importance of the gospel and the scriptures.  I saw the difference that scripture study brought to my life and the lives of those who chose to or chose not to study.

This friend had an email address which was futuremissionary@......  I remembered being taken back by the boldness in that statement.  I am a future missionary.  That said a lot.  It meant he knew that the church was true and was prepared to defend it and invite others to learn also.  That scared me at the time.

This family moved away the next year and we lost contact but for brief exchanges every once in a while.  The email address stuck forever with me.  The more it sank in the more I had a desire to be a future missionary, to serve with all my time, heart and being.  To help others find the happiness that I knew to be true and to learn of eternal families.  It became so ingrained in me that it surprised me when it didn't make sense that I leave for a mission.  I had a great boyfriend, a track scholarship, going to school, best shape of my life and yet I knew that I was a future missionary and that I had a work to do.

Thank you to the friend and his family for the examples that they showed to me.  I will be forever in debt.  The lovely people of Peru will be in debt.  My family will ever be in debt to you for the small act that changed me.