A Missionary Mother Story

On Tuesday we were in the baptistry and I was told a lovely story by one of the participants.

I was talking with another woman who was making arrangements to bring 400 family file names to have her stake's youth do all of the baptisms and confirmations. She said her oldest son is leaving on his mission soon and will participate with the youth by doing the baptizing. She said she is terribly sad to have him leaving their home.

The unendowed participant had just finished being baptized and confirmed for her own family file names. She was waiting for me to finish with her cards and heard the mother explain how hard it was to have her son leave. She asked if she could share a personal story about her oldest son who is currently on his mission. She said that she was not a member when he left last July. She said that she lives diagonally across the street from the LDS chapel and her son went to church alone for 8 years. He received a mission call and was determined to serve. She was devastated and cried and complained and after he left she continued to cry and did not eat. Her daughter sent a worried email to her son and somehow he replied and told his Mom that he was doing just what she had taught him. He was being diligent and dedicated to what was most important in his life and honoring God. He was loving and serving others and she needed to support him with strength and positive thoughts. He thanked her for her teachings and her example and bore his testimony. (Something along those lines. I am listening to all of this in Spanish of course.) She said that she stopped feeling sorry for herself and decided he was right. He was indeed following what she had taught him. I guess she rethought a lot of things and when he called at Christmas she told him that she had been attending church and was taking the missionary lessons. They had a long and wonderful phone conversation on Christmas Day. Her son told her that the Christmas of 2013 was the best Christmas of his life and his favorite present was that when he came home he would no longer be alone when he went to church.  She is so proud of him and she told the other woman that it is OK to miss her son but she needed to support him in his important mission. It was a very touching exchange and I was happy to be able to witness it.

What a great Mom. She said she was baptized in December and I see that she is already working on her family history and coming to the temple. She is very excited that by the time her son returns they will not only go to church together but can attend the temple together as well.