Comments on: My Mission’s Brightest Moment

By: Michelle Glauser

Michelle Glauser — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 23:06:56 +0000

I can’t imagine having the faith to do something that young family did. Wow. Thank you so much for telling the story here.

By: Diane Peel

Diane Peel — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 04:39:46 +0000

Oh joy! I am SO supremely happy to hear this story! SO thrilled to know that no unfortunate, life changing, choice,could ever completely dampen and prevent a spirit like your own from putting a spark to a candle and lighting a dark room when given the opportunity.

Enough of the purple prose you seem to have awaken in me. What a glorious experience to have had in an otherwise frequently dismal time. Thank you so much for sharing it.

By: Maurine

Maurine — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 04:54:35 +0000

What a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing it. Like Mina, it is amazing how the internet is helping people lost to each other for generations, reconnect.

By: Mina

Mina — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 04:35:38 +0000

I also like this story as a testament to the miracle of the internet. How easy it is now to reconnect with lost friends or make new ones in ways that would have been geographically impossible a few decades ago!

By: Bookslinger

Bookslinger — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 01:20:36 +0000

I have lots of regrets for going on a full-time mission too. Though I haven’t discovered any stories of lasting conversions as you did, it’s my hope that there are such stories out there among the people my companions and I interacted with.

I think it was bfwebster who wrote that the majority of missionary work goes on in the spirit world, and that the church here in mortality is merely a remote outpost.

I’ve come to the conclusion, or hope, that while conversions (and _lasting_ conversions) are great, the majority of the influence we have on others here in mortality won’t be realized or effectuated or visible until the spirit world. It is in the spirit world where every word, every kindness, and every testimony given in mortality will be brought to remembrance. We are planting seeds here that won’t spout until then.

By: Mark N.

Mark N. — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 00:08:23 +0000

As an ex-French missionary, this was a nice one to read. I didn’t baptize anyone during my mission (I transferred into a new city two months after my arrival in France to see the baptism of a member who had been taught by by senior companion prior to my arrival, so for me, that one “doesn’t count”). My mission is more memorable for the bikes that were stolen from me and the fake names provided while street contacting (“Noel Cadeaux”) and for the good times spent with other great missionaries who struggled as well, as well as for the raw oyster I ate on Christmas day (a gift from one of the other missionaries’ investigators) which made me sick. I still feel guilty about my final companion, who I promised to write to after I got home, but never did. It wasn’t a smashing success, but I know I’m still a different person than I would have been had I not served.

By: kevinf

kevinf — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:42:51 +0000

Just awesome! Everyone I’ve talked to who’s served in France are mostly uniformly discouraged by their missionary experience. I have a young return missionary in my ward that served in France (I think Southern France, in particular), and he would love this story. I’ll share it with him. I just keep thinking, “Oh how great will be your joy…”

By: Matt W.

Matt W. — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 19:09:40 +0000

I just fell in love with Keepa all over again. Thanks.

By: David

David — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:15:39 +0000

What a lovely story. No matter how hard a mission is they always seem to bless lives!

By: J. Stapley

J. Stapley — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 17:56:42 +0000

Very moving. As an alumnus of a French mission there was much to resonate. I also hadn’t realized that Malagasy people were exempted from the priesthood restriction. That makes me happy.