I wasn't just a number

I was somebody.

I am a child of God.

As preparing for my mission, I watch and prepare and see what I need to do to be a missionary.

It hits me so hard every single time I watch this missionary work.

I told my friend today:

I never realized how big a part I was for the missionaries. And how all the missionaries care so much for those they teach. My name wasn't just on a list. I was discussed, I was talked about.

My needs, my wants, my desires, my purposes, meant something to them. They wanted to help me. I wasn't just on a list. I was planned and prepared for with every single missionary that I met with.

They spent countless hours saying my name, praying to the Lord, asking God, what they should teach me.

I used to think that missionary work was random or just completely the same for everyone. I used to think, that the first lesson I received, was the exact same as someone else. Or that all the lessons followed were as the order they were supposed to be and the lesson they were told to teach me.

It wasn't like that. The missionaries wrote my name down, and then talked about me. They talked about my progress, they talked about where I was at in life. They talked about what I might have concerns for. They talked about my weaknesses, they talked about what they can best do, to help me.

They made a plan for me, they made a plan for what they would teach me. And they did it, they reached me as Christ would.

They loved me as Christ loved those he served.

I wasn't just some number or another investigator of the church.

 I was a person.
I was a child of God to them. 

I cannot even comprehend how emotional I will be when I become a missionary. I see the effort, and each and every time I see it, I realize how much effort and love and care was put into me. How much the missionaries did and sacrificed, in order for me to learn, and to feel the holy spirit.

They not only taught me, but they fasted for me, and they fasted for my family. They fasted for my baptism, they prayed night and day for me, and when we had lessons, they prayed with me. They put me in their emails home, they wrote about me to their family. They asked their family and friends to pray for me. They asked God to give me strength, to help me change, to help me reach my goals of baptism and growing closer to Jesus Christ.

They truly cared.
They truly loved.
They truly are the Followers and Disciples of Jesus Christ.

Missionaries are real, they wear that name tag for a reason. 

They are truly representatives of Jesus Christ.

And they helped me grow closer to Christ, through their efforts, and service, while teaching me.
And they helped me become baptized, to grow and continue in faith towards my Savior, Jesus Christ.

(My Baptism in a river, with Missionary: Elder Decker) 

In Jesus' beautiful and Sacred name,

Amen.