Brendan's Missionary Moment

Brendan is a deep thinker. He is always asking questions. Endless questions. He wants to know the why's to the universe. Recently, he has also been asking me questions concerning the gospel and being a missionary, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others.

I'm not sure if it started after a Primary lesson or from idol dinner talk, but a few weeks back Brendan started asking me serious questions about the repercussions of being a missionary. He worried about various scenarios, like if you asked someone to come to church with you and they said no. He sounded absolutely terrified of the idea of being rejected. However, I was amazed that he was thinking about all of it so heavily, like he was mulling over whether or not he could do it for real.

So, I showed him a little message in the Friend magazine that was about a little boy who did just that - asked his friend to come with him to Primary. The friend said yes the first time, but didn't go the second time he was asked and the little boy felt bad that his friend didn't come the second time. The little boy's dad told him that it was his friend's choice whether or not he wanted to come to Primary, but the important thing was that they kept asking him and giving him the chance to make that choice. I told Brendan that everyone has their agency - their gift from God to be able to choose for themselves - but that we have a responsibility to at least try to share the joy of the gospel of Jesus Christ with them so that they have that chance to choose. We would never want our friends to look at us one day and ask why we never shared the truth with them. We have to at least try, and then keep loving our friends no matter what they choose.

Then this week, after school, he asked me if we still had the new Book of Mormon that the missionaries had left with us to give away. I said we did, and then he told me about a conversation he'd had with his friends at school that day. He had asked two of his friends if they ever had gone to church. One said that he went on Easter. The other friend said he had never gone. Then he asked them if they read the scriptures, specifically the Book of Mormon. The first said that he had, and the second said he had not, to which Brendan answered that he should. It was an important book. Which brought him to this moment, asking me for our spare Book of Mormon so that he could give it to his friend.

I was absolutely in awe of this little guy. He was sharing what he knew was good with the people he cared about. What a wonderful example to me, and to all of us!

I told him that he ought to write a few words to his friend inside the cover. We discussed maybe telling him what the book was about, what Brendan's feelings were about the book, why it was important. After thinking it over, this is what Brendan wrote:

"Dear Taylor,
This book is the scriptures. It's about God and Jesus. It is very important. Don't throw it away.
Love,
Brendan"

Is that not the most precious little message? It was right to the point - shared what it was and the importance of it. That last sentence cracked me up. I was also impressed with the fact that when I listed his options of how to close the letter - things like "Your friend" or "From" or "Love" - he chose "Love, Brendan". It was for his little friend that he cares about and he closed it with that tender word. Man, I just love this kid.

The next day, he took the book to school and gave it to his friend. He was very nonchalant about it when I asked him how it had gone. He just said that his friend had taken it. So, we may never know what his friend (or his friend's parents) thought of the book, but the most important part of it to me was that Brendan showed that he could be a missionary and share who he is and what he believes with others. That takes guts. That takes a testimony. I couldn't be more proud of him. And I think that he was pretty surprised with himself, too.