I don't know what I was expecting.
I think I was somehow expecting Jake to email me telling me how much he loves and misses me and whatnot. And in a way he did. He stared the email off with "HI MY SWEET GIRL :):):)". He's such a wonderful human. But anyways, that was about as cheesy as it got.
Jake was in FULL missionary mode. It took me by total surprise, and made me the most proud girlfriend in the entire world. :):)
I was so preoccupied with worrying about him being worried or anxious or sad that I was not prepared for what he said to me.
He shared an experience that him and his companion had with an investigator. I'm going to change the name for privacy reasons. :)
This is what he said:
"So we have what's called a TRC investigator (teaching resource center). These are people who come in to the MTC and let the missionaries teach them. they're either real investigators or they're recent converts who are roleplaying their story as the missionaries teach them. so we don't know which investigators are members or not so we really have to treat it like the real deal. our investigator's name is Sam. he's samoan and he moved from California. our first visit with him on monday, he was really rude to us. he let us in for ten minutes while we taught him about how much God and Jesus Christ love him, and that any sorrows and pains and guilt he feels in his life can be swept away through repentance because of the atonement. he hates Utah. the only reason he's here is because he's living with his best friend. he feels like everyone here judges him because he's not mormon and everyone just shoves religion down his throat. he kept asking us why we even cared and kept telling us to leave. eventually it got to the point where i got a little frustrated, the spirit said to me "be bold" and i yelled out, "SAM I CARE ABOUT YOU WHETHER YOU ACCEPT IT OR NOT. nobody, especially you, should have to go through this life sad and sorry. i don't care if you're mormon, i don't even care if you don't get baptized and you kick us out, as long as it makes your life happy. that's all i care about."
well.... he started crying and opened up about something that happened in his life. a year ago, he was living with his family when he found out his little brother was gay. Sam and his brother got into a huge fight and Sam ended up telling his brother that he was better off killing himself, so his brother got a gun and killed himself right in front of Sam. after he told us the story, he ran out of the room, dried his face off, came back and said, "I think you'd better leave." so we got up and just as we were about to leave he started crying again and sincerely asked, "seriously. why do you care?" so i lost it. i started bawling and ran over and hugged him, both of us just sitting there hugging it out and crying.
To shorten the story, he let us come back the next day. we've had some crazy stories with him since then. it's been fun getting to know him!!!"
I am so impressed with Jake. I knew he was going to be a great missionary, but I didn't know just how great. He is so amazing. I am just absolutely blown away by him!!!
I got so much out of this story. Those of us who have the gospel sometimes don't realize what we really have. Because we've been blessed with the truth, we have an obligation to share the hope of the gospel with those who need it. There are so many people in the world who suffer every day in many ways. And we have a way to give them hope. We're all missionaries. We all have the potential to change someone's life. So take a risk, and lets all find a Sam. :)
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