Why yes, I am on vacation

And yes, it is going fabulously. I'm having a blast. Life is good, although my feet are getting darn tired of being so USED all the time.

But that is not the purpose of this blog post. The vacation news will come at a later time. Maybe. If I feel like it.

The purpose of this post is simply to declare to all the world that missionary work is true. I don't think I've ever really thought about missionary work as much as I have in the past few days. At least, not in the way that I have. There are a number of things we could attribute that to, but we're simply going to attribute it to the time I've spent recently out in the missionary field.

For example. At church in Daytona Beach, a girl about my age, ish, got up and spoke in sacrament meeting. She told the story of her conversion two years previous, and the wonderful miracle it was that the missionaries arrived at her home at just the right time. She talked about the way she felt when she joined the church, the way that she feels now, and she shared her testimony.

And to me, it was the most beautiful thing.

Later, we had the opportunity to hear from the Orlando Mission President, who encouraged all of us to be member missionaries. I've heard a lot about this, yet I somehow seem to go glassy-eyed when they talk about it, thinking to myself, I don't need to do that - I live in Utah. Not so. It suddenly struck me, sitting there in that ward, that I might not live in Utah forever. Someday I might live in a ward that covers a huge land area, or in a branch, waiting anxiously to become a ward. I might live right out in the mission field, and when or if that day comes, I want to be ready.

And suddenly, missionary work means more to me and has become more personal to me than ever before. I love the Gospel with all my heart. It truly forms the core of my life, bringing meaning and color into everything I experience. I can't imagine my life without it, or without my relationship with my Savior.

Viva missionaries. All of them, all over the world - the ones I know, and the ones I don't know. They truly carry on the work of the Lord.

Viva la Vida.