I received email from out of the blue last night from a woman I knew from 17 years ago on my mission. She was a sister missionary, and I was her district leader. She wrote simply to chew me out for having thrown away everything I used to preach so powerfully as a missionary and for having "denied the Christ" for the sake of impressing people.
I wrote a very calm email back, explaining that I was confused and conflicted as a missionary, and had doubted the church since long before I went on my mission. I concluded by apologizing for my complicity in the incidents where she played footsie with me, where we started holding hands on the sly, and where we ended up making out late one night at her and her companion's apartment. What good missionaries we were!
