I Hope They Call Her on a Mission

Lyndsay participated in Missionary Weekend. (That's her, second in from the left. Incidentally, next to her is Maria's daughter, the one that invited her to go with them to Mexico this summer.)

At first, she wasn't thrilled. Not about the missionary part, but about the pouring rain part and her hair, and how those two things would mix. Also the part about giving up an entire weekend to pouring rain and bad hair, when these days her time is very, very stretched.

I was so excited for her to get to participate, as I've heard the youth praising this experience for years--how great it is, how much they learn, how much love they feel. I baked cookies for Lyndsay and her "companion", tucked them into a brown paper bag, with a letter, telling her how proud I am of her, and how I hoped that she would feel the Savior's love as she spent time in His service.

Pretty much everyone equates the Mormon Church with missionaries. Missionary Weekend is the weekend when all of the youth aged 16 and up get to "try out" a mission. There was a Missionary Training Center set up at one of the church buildings, where the youth gathered after school the first day. They were, from that moment on, to follow mission rules. (No cell phones, iPods, etc.) After talks and training on missionary work, they went to sleep at someone's house (a YW leader, in our case) and in the morning, they were paired up with Sister missionaries, or Elders, as the case may be. They spent the day with the missionaries, following their schedule, keeping their appointments, talking to strangers, and bearing testimony of Jesus Christ.

She got home late Saturday night, exhausted and, more importantly, all aglow. Her mission ended up to be in Santa Monica, starting at the Temple there, and working in the surrounding neighborhoods. She told me of each person they visited, how adept the Sisters were at working with the Spirit and being genuinely interested in each person they talked with. She told me how she even found herself bearing her testimony of prayer, of the scriptures, and of the reality of her relationship with Heavenly Father. She watched the expressions on people's faces change, soften, with the message. She felt love.

Oh, my heart sings! She felt the love. That's what it's all about.

And as it happened, even the sun came out.