LATE NIGHT...but Well Worth It
On Thursday night the young men and young women in our ward had a special missionary activity. The full-time missionaries in the area taught them some about missionary work, then they broke into companionships and went with their leaders (and some recently returned missionaries) to visit and teach families in the ward. Our family was asked to role play with the youth when they came.
We were told to be a Buddhist family who has met with the missionaries several times and enjoys the meetings because of the feelings we feel when they teach us. Kaneesha and Myranda were involved with the event, and Noell was playing volleyball. Tanner and I were the "family" that the "missionaries" taught. We had four different groups come and teach us. It was a very special experience for me. I hope the youth enjoyed it as much.
After it was done, I discussed with Tanner what it was like to be a missionary. I asked if he felt he could do what the youth did: teach about Jesus, the scriptures, prayer, etc. He said he could do that, but sounded hesitant about what it really required. To help him gain a better understanding about missionary work, I thought it would be best to share some experiences. I told Tanner about a family that we found and baptized on my mission.
After Tanner went to bed, I felt compelled to see if could somehow find them and send them a letter or some type of correspondence. After several hours, of investigation, I found a young woman on Facebook that I thought might be the 9 year-old (Joceane) when the family was baptized. I also found who I thought might be her older sister, Josenilda. The problem is that Brazilians have a lot of very common names and you can't just do a search for their name without getting many others with similar names. Also, to make matters worse, it's been over 20 years since I last saw them.
Finally, I came across Everton. More than twenty years had changed his teenage face, but I was quite certain it was him. Everton's Facebook profile had enough of the names for me to be confident it was him. As I looked through his photos, I recognized a photo of his father. It was so exciting to finally find this great family.
I wrote a quick message to Everton and am anxiously awaiting his reply. I keep checking my email to see if he's responded. I can hardly wait.
We were told to be a Buddhist family who has met with the missionaries several times and enjoys the meetings because of the feelings we feel when they teach us. Kaneesha and Myranda were involved with the event, and Noell was playing volleyball. Tanner and I were the "family" that the "missionaries" taught. We had four different groups come and teach us. It was a very special experience for me. I hope the youth enjoyed it as much.
After it was done, I discussed with Tanner what it was like to be a missionary. I asked if he felt he could do what the youth did: teach about Jesus, the scriptures, prayer, etc. He said he could do that, but sounded hesitant about what it really required. To help him gain a better understanding about missionary work, I thought it would be best to share some experiences. I told Tanner about a family that we found and baptized on my mission.
After Tanner went to bed, I felt compelled to see if could somehow find them and send them a letter or some type of correspondence. After several hours, of investigation, I found a young woman on Facebook that I thought might be the 9 year-old (Joceane) when the family was baptized. I also found who I thought might be her older sister, Josenilda. The problem is that Brazilians have a lot of very common names and you can't just do a search for their name without getting many others with similar names. Also, to make matters worse, it's been over 20 years since I last saw them.
Finally, I came across Everton. More than twenty years had changed his teenage face, but I was quite certain it was him. Everton's Facebook profile had enough of the names for me to be confident it was him. As I looked through his photos, I recognized a photo of his father. It was so exciting to finally find this great family.I wrote a quick message to Everton and am anxiously awaiting his reply. I keep checking my email to see if he's responded. I can hardly wait.
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