Mary's First Response

One day, I was in the car with my dad, brother & sister. Dad asked me if I'd be okay with skipping school for a year to go on a missions trip. "Sure!" Fast forward to dinner that night. The conversation quickly turned to the subject of this possible trip. My mom explained to me that 'skipping school' meant that I'd be a year behind my friends in school when we got back. "No way!" I couldn't stop crying for a long time. How could I leave my friends and my dog for a year? Jane came in to my room and I told her how it would be torture to leave my friends for 10 months. What if they made new friends? What if they don't like me when I'm a year behind them in school? She told me how she has church friends who are older than she is and that comforted me . . . for a few minutes.

As I thought about other bad things about leaving, I started to cry again. I finally fell asleep, but my nose was stuffed up and my eyes were puffy when I woke up the next morning. At breakfast my mom talked to us about amazing things. She reminded us how great of an opportunity this was. She said, "How often do you eat breakfast with Dad on a weekday morning?" As I thought about the trip I began to understand that it is God's will for our family and that I shouldn't be crying. I should be excited to help so many people around the world!

I told the news to some of my friends at school. I received very different reactions. One of them said she was going to kill me and another said she was happy for me. I like the second response...