At age ninteen, the young men of my religion are asked to go on missions. They are assigned all over the world and spend two years serving the people they meet and spreading the gospel. Naturally, some of them go out for the wrong reasons and waste two years of their lives, but for most I know, they say it's the best two years of their lives.
That's the background for this article. Again, please don't fight.
As I grow older, more and more of my friends are getting called on their missions. As a child, I always looked at the missionaries with awe, thinking that these boys must be so special, to go out and serve the Lord as they do. Now I go, "Wow, they're just normal guys. And I have even more respect for their decisions."
Recently my friend, we'll call him...Joe, went to Rome on his mission. Now, there are very strict rules designed to keep these boys focused, so I don't get emails. Also, I'm really awful at writing to people, so I don't blame him. But I DO get forwarded emails from his dad. Joe will email his dad, and the dad will forward it to all Joe's contacts. I read about Joe's adventures in the Catholic capital of the world. I know why he's there. Or rather, why I think he'll do well there. It's because he's so sincere, so strong in his conviction of the truthfulness of this Gospel that the Lord knows he won't be converted to Catholicism by being in Rome.
Another friend of mine recently go his call to Kentucky. Let's call him Bill. Bill is one of the most mellow, patient people I know. No matter how hard I try I can't antagonize him. This will serve him well when the Bible-bashers come a-calling. They won't get to him, like they would to others, such as...me!
There are so many other examples of friends and associates called to serve in different places, and for each one, I know that they'll be amazing in their respective locations. Each new call is a sign to me that I belong to the only true and living church on the earth, and that I-WE have a Heavenly Father who knows each of us by name, and who loves us and wants us to be happy and succeed.
I may not know everything about my church, or about the Gospel, or the Bible, or whatever, but I know what I know. It's true, and nothing can take me away from that belief.
Nothing.
Isn't it grand?