Oh the happiness that missionaries bring!

I just received an email from my brother, Elder Jett, in the MTC. He sounds so happy! It was refreshing to read an email from my brother that didn't have the words "fix my paper" in it. (In the past, both in high school and in college, Bill would email me his school papers and ask me to "fix it." Meaning, "Hey Mary, add five more pages because I have nothing to say." haha) Really though, he sounds wonderful and is learning so much--I can feel it in his words. He also sounds 10x more sophisticated now than he did a little over a week ago. I like it!
So I'm encouraging everyone who knows Bill to write him through www.dearelder.com. I just finished writing him a letter this morning. It's free and very easy. For your knowledge: select "Provo MTC" for now; his mission, again, is Colombia Barranquilla (for the info, write COL-BARR); and his MTC mailbox is #290. And his estimated MTC departure date is Oct. 2, 2008. Write to him because I know he would love it!
Continuing with the missionary talk, all of my boys from my freshman ward are arriving in Provo this week and I am so excited to see them! All back from missions...have two years really gone by? I've actually talked to Stephen Pulsipher on the phone because he was gracious enough to call me and he sounds wonderful! I've talked with Ryan Frandsen on facebook and he sounds great too--he served in Ecuador so we've shared some stories (his are his own experiences and mine are my parents' experiences). I am so proud of all these boys who sacrificed their time to serve the Lord. Only blessings come from serving a mission. I've heard this my entire life, but I've seen it (and continue to see it) through my parents' examples. Now I see it through my husband's example. I see how serving a mission has affected him for only the better and it has made him the best possible husband for me. Now I'm seeing it from my friends' examples, and I add Elder Jett to that. (And another Elder Jett after that, Joe in seven years!)
Oh how I love missionaries! I've said before, in previous testimonies, that I owe so much to missionaries and they work they willingly do. Had the missionaries not stopped by the white house in North Wildwood, NJ and by the peach house in Manta, Ecuador, my parents would not have been baptized. Had my parents not been baptized, they would not have joined the church and consequently, they would not have served their respective missions to Ecuador. Had my parents not served those missions, they would not have met. Had they not met, I would not be here as Mary Cheronne Jett Killion. The cause and effect list can continue, but I am eternally grateful to those sets of missionaries who knocked on my parents' doors thousands of miles away from each other (at the time). For without their work, my parents would not be my parents. I would not be their daughter and I would not have the siblings I have. I would not have the life I have now. But I know that He loves us beyond anything we can comprehend in this mortal life. I know that missionary work is of vital importance in this dispensation, and my heart soars whenever I think of missionaries. I've corresponded with many friends while on their missions, and their testimonies strengthened my own. I hear my husband talk about the love he had for the people he served and my heart swells with that love too--I've never met these people, but I feel I know them and love them because Chris knows them and he loves them. I see pictures of my parents on their missions and I feel nothing but the utmost pride, as well as sincere humility, for their service.
I'm crying right now as I'm typing this, but they are tears of happiness. I know the Lord loves each of us, and His missionaries are a physical manifestation of His love. They love the Lord and only want to serve Him honorably. Thank you Heavenly Father for MISSIONARIES.
Hush Puppies of reinforced black rubber=$94.
Seven dress shirts, eight pairs of dress pants, one new suit= $$$
Missionaries and the work they do for the Lord=priceless. Forever priceless.