lucky.

I think we are kind of extremely lucky that the Church asks boys to go on missions before they get married.

Not that they aren't great before and not that we don't miss them while they're gone, but I don't know that what a mission does for some boys could be done by any other experience.

On the way home from California we listened to the talk "Come Let Us Go Up to the Mountain of the Lord" by Sister Dalton and she says this..

"Before young men go on their missions, if you asked them the number one quality they were looking for in a young woman, they might mention a quality that is based on worldly standards, like looks. But after two years in the mission field, these same young men return home, and they have changed—their focus has changed—and the number one quality they are looking for in an eternal companion changed without your even knowing it! A virtuous returned missionary is attracted to a virtuous young woman—one who has a testimony of Jesus Christ and is committed to a life of purity.

What has caused this mighty change of heart? These young men understand their identity and role in the plan of happiness. They have purified their lives so that they can be guided by the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. They are worthy to enter the Lord’s holy temples. They are virtuous."

I'm not saying that boys that don't go on missions aren't great guys too (or that girls are perfect at this age either) but I am glad for boys that do choose to go on missions and that give two years of their life completely to the Lord and His work. I'm grateful that I have the blessing of being surrounded by young men who are choosing to do that and who are being blessed and changed for the better because of it.

 

Love, J.