Here are some good things that came of Damon's 2 year mission in Mexico preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ:
1. He developed a strong testimony of the Savior, the Book of Mormon, and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. He hesitated to serve a mission because he didn't feel he had a strong testimony back when he was fresh out of high school. But he was a diligent keeper of the commandments and was worthy to serve, so Jake and I pushed him to go. We're grateful it worked out. During his mission and since he's been home, he's mentioned seeing the hand of God in the work, in his life, and in the lives of those he taught. And he now recognizes the the gospel is something everyone needs.
2. He makes polite and pleasant small talk now with strangers! He's such an introvert that I never saw this before the mission.
3. We were blessed and protected because of his service. A couple incidents that come most readily to mind: when I was teaching Anne to drive a year and a half ago, I wasn't paying attention and told her to turn right on a red light even though a car was coming! They didn't hit us and I knew we were being spared because of Damon's missionary service (and Jake's service as a bishop). Then this past spring I was driving 2 of my girls and several of my nieces to my Aunt Kathy's house for a painting lesson. Again, not paying attention, I'm seeing a pattern here, I turned when I shouldn't have, and caused an accident. Thanks to the other driver's presence of mind and God's mercy, no one was injured though both cars were damaged. Miraculously, my sister-in-law (whose van I was driving at the time) ended up feeling blessed by the incident! Really! That's sounds too good to be true but this is one time when too good really is true. And now I pay attention while I'm driving, so one more blessing to come out of all this.
We still learned how to watercolor:
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