It's a crude drawing, but who cares?
In response, I doodled an apple and gave it to him to keep, and he put it in his wallet. Today I got an email with a handful of photos he took at the MTC and then a second one that said "I totally still have the apple".
It doesn't look much like an apple, but whatever. He also kept that dollar bill origami heart and quarter I gave to him when we were bored at a restaurant waiting for our tacos to come.
In case you're wondering, yes that's my family on the left. It was the day my parents and I were baptized (June 2000), and Chris was only 6 years old. A sister missionary gave it to us glued on the inside of a BoM, and those have been our "family scriptures" ever since. He asked my mom to send it to him so he could use it to teach investigators.
Anyway, the whole point of this post was to show what an unusual relationship I have with Chris. We keep each other's secrets and bits of scrap paper, we share inside jokes nobody really finds funny, and we have certain rules in life like "don't use a butter knife for anything but butter" and "if you see something shiny, go and see what it is".
Man, I miss my brother. But I know the work he is doing is all worth it, and more important than anything else he could be doing at home. He is preparing to teach and serve and share the true Gospel of Christ to people he's never met before, but that he will come to love and care for as true brothers and sisters in the church do. I know that these people need to hear about Christ and his Atoning Sacrifice, and thanks to Elder Zuniga and all other missionaries, these people can find true happiness and eternal salvation. I believe in this gospel, and that Jesus Christ came and atoned for the sins of mankind so that we might all be saved and all our wrongs might be righted. Although I miss him more than anything in the world, I know that thanks to this gospel my family will all be together for time and eternity, and this short period of time is but a blink of an eye in the grand scheme of things. I know the Book of Mormon is true, and that Christ visited the American continent and commanded it to be written for MY PEOPLE, the descendants of Lehi. I believe in modern day prophet Thomas S. Monson just as I believe in the prophets of old, and that he and other church leaders provide direction and counsel to live a Christ-centered life in a time where immorality and chaos are abundant. This church has brought me a peace, hope, happiness, and a permanently positive outlook on life (and life after death) that I could not achieve on my own. Chris, Thank You for your sacrifice and willingness to serve.
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