Father Henry

I have to post this on the blog before I forget about it. I've really been thinking about it lately cuz Danny was just called to be the Ward Mission Leader this Sunday. He's so great about opening his mouth about the gospel. Me, I figure he does enough of it for both of us.

I am very aware of the fact that I am raising 4 (potentially 5) future missionaries. I believe Heavenly Father sent us 4 fantastic future missionaries in the making because Danny is an awesome example. He loved serving his mission in the Philipines and worked very hard there. He speaks of it often with love and enthusiasm. Our sons love hearing dad talk about how the kids would marvel at his white hair and pull at the hair on his arms. How rats would bite his toes in the middle of the night, running away from dogs, eating dogs (and other unmentionable things).

Most especially, I see how they look at dad when he bears his testimony to them of the spirit that he felt when he taught the gospel to these humble people. How they would send their kids down to the corner store (Sari) to buy the elders a drink with the little money they had and feed them the last food in their homes. But mostly how the people would get so excited to hear about the plan of life and be so eager to bring it into their lives and share it with their friends. They know dad still feels the gospel is true because he still is a missionary and loves to share the gospel. He is not afraid to open his mouth. He will often come home from work and talk about how he shared a gospel principle on the jobsite and sometimes we'll teach a discussion inour home with some of them.

Where is this leading? I see this same enthusiasm in my kids. They get their friends curious about God and asking their parents questions about their beliefs. They are not afraid to share their beliefs with their friends.

Not just their friends, but teachers as well. Brian is the first of my 4 kids to really go to Preschool. I'm not against preschool, we just do so many structured thing I haven't really seen the need to do it. However, last year, Brian insisted he wanted to go to school. Not only were all his brothers and sister going but now he learned ALL of his friends were going. He figured he must be missing out. So I signed him up for preschool last year and he LOVED it. So of course we did it this year too.

Last month we went on a field trip to the farm. His teacher, Mrs. Buxton, is very loving and religious woman. She has mentioned how she has had several LDS kids in her classes over the years and she loves how great an emphasis family is in our religion. She is kind in how she says we make good parents. She loves Brian and notices how well he memorizes the scripture verses and seems to really love the Lord. She often says how he is so sincere when he prays. She was curious however, who Father Henry is in our religion. I cocked an eyebrow and thought "I haven't heard this crazy rumor about our church." I asked her where she heard we worship Father Henry. She said, "Well, when Brian prays, he often says Father Henry in his prayers." She said she had some LDS friends and had asked them about it but they didn't know what to make of it. I immediately had it figured out. I laughed as I explained to her that he was saying "Father in Heaven" not Father Henry. She didn't have the benefit of the mommy translation. We both had a good chuckle over it.

I realized that we are being watched though we may not know it and it is important to make sure I am teaching my children all I can. I am glad that Brian's teacher felt comfortable enough to bring it up! It was a teaching moment for me as well as I was able to tell her about some other gospel princples as well. Way to go Brian for giving mom a missionary moment!