ever a missionary

i got an email from a friend in brasil the other day. last friday. completely out of the blue. he was a member that lived in my second area (i was there june-2003 to october-2003). he was great to work with, served in the Temple, always willing to help us out in the missionary work, etc. a really amazing guy.

so he sent me a quick email on friday just saying hi and that he had been looking online to find the missionaries that taught and baptized him and he ended up finding me! he thought that i probably wouldn't remember who he was, but he just wanted to say hi.

i was so happy to get his email! of course i remembered him. i remember (and miss) so many people down there! i wrote him back right away and just kinda gave a quick update about what i was doing and asked what he was up to and how the ward and everything was down there.

i got his response email yesterday. kinda made me sad to find out that he stopped going to church about 2 years ago. there was some misunderstanding and some hurt feelings so he stopped going. he didn't give me lots of details, but yeah.

i hate to learn that people stop going to church because of the actions of other people! i mean, c'mon!! going to Church has nothing to do with that!! we go to Church because we love the Lord and we've made a commitment to Him.

my friend ended his second email saying that if i decided that i don't want to talk to him anymore that he will understand and he won't be mad at me and he will continue to pray for me. i'm not gonna stop talking to him because of this. if anything, it is motivation for me to talk to him and talk through this with him. but he also *has* to recognize that everything i can and will say to him is stuff he already knows -- i'm not going to be revealing some hidden truth or anything. and he has to expect that i'm not going to just let this lie.

it's interesting to me that my mission still continues. it was such a blessing in my life and continues to provide me opportunities to serve and love. i have kept in contact with a few people down there. but i've lost contact with many of the people i love down there. my mission also gives me so many opportunities to talk about the Church and my beliefs with new people that i meet here. i love that.