Flash Back

So Saturday morning I decided to pull out my old missionary journals and go through some of the names of people I met in Argentina, where I served from 1996 to 1998, to see if I could find them on facebook. Most of the names were so common that there were over 500 people on the search, so I had to look for the more obscure names. I also only looked for people that would be around 20 or 30 years old now. I sent messages to a few people asking them if they were from Argentina. The only response I got back was "no", but then today when I checked facebook a girl I baptized when she was 11 responded and asked if I was a missionary from 10 or 11 years ago. I was so excited to reconnect with somebody from one of my favorite families from my mission.

I baptized Rocio when she was just 11 years old. She's the one on the left. Her sister, Gisel (on the right) was also baptized on the same day as Rocio.


You can tell by the picture that they're awesome. What's really amazing is what she looks like now:


My cute little 11 year old has grown into a beautiful young lady! (I hope she doesn't get mad that I stole her profile pic and posted it here). It's so strange to go so long without contact with somebody and then to reconnect and see how much they've changed. I really look forward to getting to know Rocio again and find out what her and her family have been up to since last time I saw them.

There are so many blessings that come from technology and this is one of them. This last week I reconnected with five or six friends that I haven't talked to for years. One of them I haven't talked to in over 17 years! I didn't even realize I was old enough to have had friends from that long ago.

I also feel really blessed for the rule we had as missionaries of writing in our journals every day. Because I was thinking a lot about Rocio and her family today I read through my journal, when I got home from work, of when I was teaching her and was able to relive those wonderful times.