Awesome Mission Experience

We have met many interesting and wonderful people here on our mission that we will never forget.  I had a phenomenal experience this past week I'd like to share with everyone. 

I got a call at the office from an older gentleman named Roger.  He told me he wasn't a member of our Church, but had a dear friend who was, and he had recently passed away.  Apparently his friend had been a missionary for our Church many years ago in Africa and had often talked about his experiences there.  Roger said he had been thinking about how he could honor the memory of his friend and had the idea to donate money in his friend's name to our missionary efforts.  He said he had talked with several people and no one seemed to know how he could do it since he wasn't a member. 

It just so happened that I had had a personal experience with something like this in the past and knew that anyone could make a donation to the Church and explained the simple process to him.  He was very grateful. We talked for five or ten minutes about his friend, missionary work and several other worthwhile causes the Church supports like the Perpetual Education Fund which provides money to low income students around the world for education and training, and our Humanitarian Aid Fund which provides immediate aid in natural disasters, famines, etc. around the world in conjunction with the Red Cross and other international relief agencies.

Roger said he wanted his donation to go to our world-wide missionary fund because of the positive impact serving a mission to Africa had on his friend.  He thanked me for helping him make that possible and said he would be sending his son into the office to give me the check in a few days.  Not long afterward, Roger's son, Marc, came into the office.  He introduced himself to me and said he had brought in the check.  I got out the necessary paperwork for the donation and Roger handed me the check.  Imagine my shock and surprise when I noticed the amount of the check was $10,000!  Yes, $10,000!  What a wonderful tribute to a special friend!

  

We were very grateful for Roger's generous donation, and it will be put to good use, but in the grand scheme of things, true friendship is priceless.  In the words of the Savior in His discourse on perfect love, "This is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."