Going the Extra Mile, but Skipping the First Mile

Some of you may know this story, but I'll tell it again because the ending of the story keeps changing. Me and my missionary companion, Elder Van Uitert, were knocking on doors, looking for people to teach in Guatemala City. Both of us had about one year in the mission. Elder Van Uitert and myself were walking and discussing the topic of our homecoming talks in the coming year. We were a bit "trunky" or "baggy" as they say. Anyway, I asked my companion if he had ever had one of the big missionary moments, a story about how he overcame adversity, kept working, knocked on nearly every door on the street without success, but decided to keep going and knock on just one more door at the end of the street to find a "golden family" that wanted to hear the gospel. He said that he hadn't had one of those experiences and I told him that I hadn't either. I then told Elder Van Uitert that it would be really cool to have one of those experiences to use in our homecoming talks. He agreed, but said, "Let's have one of those experiences, but instead of knocking on all of the doors on the street, let's skip them all and go right to the last one!" So that's what we did. We skipped all of the doors and went to the last door on the street where we found a golden family, the Mendez family, that was baptized 6 weeks later. Hence, going the extra mile, while skipping the first mile. See, the Lord works in mysterious and often EFFICIENT ways.

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Well, here's the update to this story. Eva Mendez, who is two years old in the picture above, wants to go to BYU to study. We have been corresponding by email for many months. I was concerned about her coming here to study because she wasn't fluent in English although she had studied it for six years. I was also concerned about the cost. It's very difficult to save enough money to go to school with the wages earned from Guatemala. She worked for the church in Guatemala in the contruction department. She saved about $3,500 with help from her friends and family, which is a ton for someone in her circumstances. She paid the $2,000 to BYU and was accepted into the English Learning Center program. She bought a one-way ticket to Salt Lake City, brought two bags with her, and left her country for the first time by herself . Eva arrived here this week. She is really brave. She is 19 years old now. Eva, Kaitlyn, and myself went to BYU this weekend and found her an apartment and checked in at the school, got her ID card, and found where her classes will be. It was good practice for when I do this 8 years from now with Ashley.

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Eva told me it was sad to leave her family, and she still cries every day from what we can tell because she misses them so much. She said that a lot of people told her that she couldn't come to the United Stated to study, it was way too difficult for someone with her resources. But she believed that she could do it and now she's here. The story isn't over yet either. She will be fine while studying during the Spring and Summer terms, but she is not going to have a lot a money moving forward for her schooling. After she gets settled in, she's going to try to find a job to save for more schooling. If any of you reading this are thinking about donating to the church's Perpetual Education Fund, talk with me. You may be able to help someone directly. Eva can't use the Perpetual Education Fund because she is studying in the USA. It's only for those that are studying in other countries. If you would like to help, she could certainly use it. We hope for the best for Eva and wish her all of the blessings that the Lord can provide.


Eva and Kaitlyn at BYU for the first time (feels good to convert a family and then convert them even deeper into the gospel to be BYU fans. Go cougs!)


Visiting Temple Square for the first time

We also took Eva to this is This is the Place Park

It was baby animal day at This is the Place Park so the kids got to see baby chicks, bunnies, and lambs.

Pioneer school at the Park