How Great Shall Be Your Joy (and sometimes your anguish)

Since I wrote last, over a year ago, we have had 3 of Hunter's friends enter the waters of baptism and join our church.  The first was his best friend, Josh Stephens.  Josh came to church to hear Jensen's homecoming talk and felt the spirit so strongly that he kept coming back and started reading the Book of Mormon and decided to have Hunter baptize him about 6 weeks later.  Fast forward to a year and a month later and Josh is in the MTC on his way to the Philippines on a mission for the church.  Could my heart be any fuller?  I got to take Josh through the temple, help him apply to BYU, help him get ready for his mission, write to him every week while he's in the MTC and love him like he was my own son.  Josh's conversion was an absolute delight to behold.  It wasn't like he was hearing the gospel for the first time but more like he was remembering what he already knew from his life before this one.  He accepted and understood absolutely everything about the church.  He worked in the temple with Pat before he left on his mission.  Pat gave him the priesthood, was his escort in the temple and set him apart for his mission since Pat is in the stake presidency.  Before his mission he spent Sundays with us and because he is so much like Hunter, he helped us not to miss Hunter quite so much.  Josh's mother is Filipino and speaks Tagalog so he will be able to talk to her in her own language when he gets home.  Because of this boy and his decisions, our joy has truly been "great".  The anguish part is watching is mother, who is not a member of our church, try to understand how her son could believe in something so completely that he would leave her for two years.  I know Josh's family will be blessed for his service.

The next person that Hunter baptized was Daniel Murray.  Daniel found Hunter on facebook after playing against him in high school football.  He was so impressed by the things he saw in Hunter that he wanted to become friends with him.  After getting to know Hunter better he came to church and, just like Josh, felt like he was coming home.  He was baptized a week after Josh.  He then left for college in Cincinnati, Ohio where he was going to play football on scholarship.  He missed Hunter like crazy and was concerned about not seeing him for 2 years while he served his mission.  Lo and behold, Hunter got called to the Columbus, Ohio mission!  Murr was able to visit Hunch twice on his mission before he got injured in football and came home for good.  Now he is applying to BYU where he hopes to play football with Hunch in a couple of years.  So much joy!

And last, but certainly not least, is the girl that Hunter hopes to spend the rest of eternity with.  Aleigh Mellinger had Pat baptize her shortly after her 18th birthday this last May after waiting 4 long years.  She came to church with friends to hear Jensen's farewell talk and felt the spirit so strongly that she wanted to come back but her parents are of another faith and didn't feel comfortable with that.  She stayed friends with several members of our church throughout high school and fell in love with our son and adopted our way of life and embraced our doctrines immediately.  She is now a Sunbeam teacher in our ward and faithfully writing to our son on his mission. She is a wonderful, beautiful, sweet and talented girl that has made her way into our families' heart.  This is the "great joy" part.  The anguish is the pain it has caused her parents by her decision to join our church.  That part makes me very sad.  My other sons have married girls that were born and raised in our faith and I always assumed that all the rest of my children would do the same.  It just goes to show that the heart wants what the heart wants.  I pray every night that a measure of peace will come to our families someday and that we will be able to accept our children's choices and be happy for them.