I was sitting way back in my friend's ward listening to babies crying, kids whining, and my friend giving his homecoming talk. His talk was on our paths and destinations. He talked about his mission and miracles he saw. I was absolutely absorbed in memories of my mission as he talked about the individuals he taught. As I thought about each one of them, it started to rain in the building...
Here are some pictures of wonderful people I met on my mission. These are NOT everybody. I love all of you whom I met on my mission. Read at the bottom about some of the pictures.
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#1. My MTC district. I was so blessed to meet them and get to know them. My path interlocking with theirs was truly a tender mercy of the Lord to help me learn from each one of them. My companion, Elder Gardner, was the best companion I had ever. (He is the African American missionary.) I had so much fun with him learning Spanish, teaching with our poor Spanish, talking about our most embarrassing stories, walking around the MTC and me laughing at him whenever he trips for no reason, talking about "birds," etc. My teachers who were perfect for me to learn to be a missionary. Hermano Salmon, a brand new teacher, and Hermana Summers, a seasoned veteran teacher. I learned to love whom I teach and always teach by the spirit. I got chastised so that I can grow and become a better missionary. Being at the MTC was the best nine weeks of my life.
#2. Mama Amaya. She was such a sweet spirit. When she joined the Church many years ago, her own daughter kind of disowned her. She's always mean to her and it breaks Mama's heart when she can't see her grand children. Her grand daughter used to call her and talk to her for a long time but now she doesn't call her that often and doesn't talk to her for very long. It breaks my heart to see tears streaming down Mama's eyes as she tells us everything she has locked inside her because she has no one to talk to. Even with all these sadness in her life, she always brings happiness to the missionaries when she holds our hands (because she can't hug us) and tells us how much she loves us. You can't help but just love her.
#3. Oscar. He was really paranoid to go outside. He was a former investigator whom we decided to contact. The only place I've been into his house was the entrance to his house. He turned it into a little room and would sit there with us as we taught him. He remembered most of the lessons that the missionaries taught him in the past but he always talked about being afraid to go outside and getting killed. He told us how people marked his car with some white paint (which I thought were just bird poo) to kill him. Even rustling noise of blue tarp covering a fence by his house frightens him. We worked so hard with him and encouraged him over and over and assured him that no one is out there to kill him. As his baptism date approached, he said, "You guys are going to put me under water and keep me there until I die, but I don't care anymore." He made a huge improvement. He drove to church and even paid tithing. (He paid 10% of whatever he didn't pay since he stopped coming to the Church when the missionaries dropped him.) He was finally baptized.
#4. Sunny (her English name). Sunny came to the English class with her friend who was a member. We watched the Restoration DVD as our Spiritual message and she loved it. She started taking lessons from us, the Korean missionaries and the companionship who taught them the most was Elder Sung and Elder Brower. She wasn't an exception to all the trials. Her uncle who knew about our Church said some negative things to her parents. Her parents called her and tried to stop her from joining the Church. She also had a problem with her student VISA which caused us to lose contact with her after her baptism. We don't know if she went back to Korea or if she's still here.
#5. Sam Johnson. All the missionaries in the picture taught him. He was an eternal investigator whom I taught vigorously when I was in the area. He learned most of the lessons he needed to be baptized by the past missionaries and I was determined to get him baptized and resolve any problems that stop him from getting baptized. He injured his knee years ago and was homeless then a pair of missionaries gave him a pass along card which was the cause of a long journey of his path to baptism. When I met him, he wasn't working but living with his girl friend. Every time he read scriptures, he had questions for us and we had answers for them. He was willing to make any necessary changes to be baptized. The hardest part about teaching him was that he takes medication for his knee and that makes him drowsy so we have to make the lesson short for him to stay awake and learn as much as possible. Unfortunately, I was transferred out of the area when I was so close of teaching him all the lessons; however, I got a call from sister missionaries few weeks later that Sam is getting baptized and asked me to baptize him. I couldn't hide the joy I felt as I hung up the phone and screamed "YES!!!! SAM'S GETTING BAPTIZED!"
#6. Keith Rennells. No missionaries found him; he just came to church and found us. There were five sets of missionaries in the ward and our ward mission leader was trying to find which missionaries cover the area in which Keith lived in. All the missionaries were passing around a piece of note with his address on it to each other. My companion and I were the lucky one. Keith's brother was a member of the Church and Keith knew it would bless his life tremendously and change his life. As we met with him and his family, we came to love them so much; however, his wife, Fabiola, was not interested in changing her religion but she always listened. They feed us time to time, joke with us, and made us laugh. We couldn't wait to go to their home and have a good time with them. Keith was amazing! He was so willing to do anything and everything to be baptized. He came to church every Sunday and kept his appointments all the time. His trial was his wife who would not let their daughter Destiny, 8 years old at that time, to get baptized. Despite these problems, he got baptized by his brother and was confirmed to be a member of the Church. However, his trials didn't end there. Problems with his wife, he moved out of the house and moved into an apartment, but he is faithful and attends the Church regularly.
#7. Josefina Bonilla. Every time I think about Josefina, tears start to form in my eyes; tears of joy and tears of sadness. One night, my companion and I were knocking a door after a door without any success. We told ourselves, "This will be the last door and after this we will go somewhere else." You know what happens whenever missionaries say that; nothing. But the Lord did bless us that day and when we knocked on that door, Josefina opened the door and was happy to see us. She invited us in and told us how she met the missionaries before but since she was about to move, she didn't have time to listen to their message but now here we were! She told us that she was going to be gone for a week or two to go to her mom's funeral in Mexico and we told her that we were guided by the Spirit to be there to talk to her. When we left her apartment, we contacted the missionaries who talked to Josefina before. (We guessed who they were and we were right) At the first appointment with her, we committed her to be baptized and set a date. However, she couldn't come to the Church few times which made us to push her date back; however, she had legitimate reasons to miss church and once she got them resolved, she came to church every Sunday. She is so smart and learns very quickly. What makes me tear up when I think about her is all the bumps she faced down the path. She was a divorced mother of a boy who just graduated from college. He can't find a job and she works so hard to support him and her. She still pays off his college tuition and when I was there, somebody crashed into her car, broke the side mirror, and just ran off. Josefina and her son lived in a one bedroom apartment that smelled pretty bad because of their cat and there were roaches everywhere. Oh but how strong she was. She loved the Church. She loved the members. She loved the gospel. Before I came home, she gave me a nice set of a pen and a mechanical pencil with a note thanking me.
#8. The Sosas. They stopped coming to the Church months before I got to the area. We started visiting them as a part of Elder Perry's plan, and the more we visited them, the more our love for them deepened. Romeo got baptized when Ashley and Romeo got married. They have three children: Hannah, Kailey, and little Romeo. I don't know why but the Sosas and I just clicked, and we would have so much fun. We would make fun of each other, share our thoughts and concerns, play with children, and so on. I loved how Hannah tried to get my attention whenever I was talking to other people. I loved how whenever Kailey sees me, she would call me, "Elder Kim, Elder Kim, Elder Kim." And little Romeo who just started crawling few weeks before I came home. Many FHE nights with them. Many dinners with them. Many random visits to make sure they are doing OK. Kailey and little Romeo's birthday parties. Romeo's prank call to Elder Gardner. Our trip to the temple. Ashley's sister's baptism. (That story will be followed by this) Them telling me how much they love me and that I was one of their favorite missionaries other than the missionaries who taught Romeo before his baptism. Their sweet, loving words in my journal. I still call them and encourage them to get their patriarchal blessings and go to the temple to be sealed to each other
More story with this family when we started visiting them, Ashley found out that her sister has been missing for about a year. Cassie, Ashley's sister,was with her boy friend the last time she called Ashley. Few weeks later, Ashley got a call from a hospital in Mexico where Cassie was. Cassie was down in Mexico with her boy friend. One night, she was taking a shower when her boy friend just came in and started to beat her and left her on the bathroom floor to die. She barely survived and called for help. The Sosas went to Mexico to pick her up and ever since they've been back to the US, we started to teach Cassie. One night after planning, we heard that other missionaries were having a baptism, we thought that it would be cool to invite the Sosas to that baptism so that Cassie can see how we do our baptism and feel the Spirit there. When we called them, Ashley picked up the phone and I told her what we were planning on doing. She was so happy and told me that she was thinking about how it would be nice for Cassie to see a baptism and learn about the Church. Cassie's foster family was the worst obstacle she had because they were Jehovah's witnesses. She had a lot of pressure from them not to join the Church. Another night, we were visiting a family close by the Sosas and afterward, we started heading home but felt like we needed to visit them. When we got to their house, Ashley was so glad to see us because Cassie had many doubts and questions after visiting her foster family the day before. We were there at the right moment to help her resolve her concerns and doubts. Romeo was able to baptize Cassie which was really cool. :) Cassie finally got baptized but this story didn't have a happy ending. Cassie later met a guy and got pregnant. Now they are somewhere together and she stopped going to church.
It has been a blessing to look at these pictures again and write about them. It brought back memories I hold dearly. My path has interlocked with theirs and they blessed my life so much and I learned so much from them. These people (and more) are what shaped my life and who I am now. I thank them and love them from the bottom of my heart.
