Something I love

Something I love as a missionary is being able to see the lives of people change as they accept and apply the teachings of Jesus Christ and his restored Gospel. I've seen it happen a few times and everytime it fills me with such great joy, I can't even really explain it. One thing in particular on this note that I especially love is seeing families who were once "in-active" meaning that they have not been to church in a long time and sometimes not following and obeying the commandments, become "re-activated" meaning, they come back to church and start to obey God's commandments.
One story in particular is about a family that I have had the chance to know and teach, we'll call them for identity's sake the Alex Family. This family had recently been re-activated when I came to the area I'm in now. This family is amazing. They have 8 kids. They were baptized some years ago, and for about a year or more they had not been to church. But recently had started to come back to church. One of their children my companion and I had the chance to teach this past month who was baptized. It was amazing to me to see this family work together as their son prepared to be baptized. The family united more and now is one of the happiest famlies I have seen.
And now we are meeting with the Dad's brother and sister in law who are also less active and have a son who also wants to be baptized. It has been amazing for me to see as this family has started to read in the scriptures more and pray as a family, to see the light in their eyes grow and their desire to return to the fold of God grow.
The reason why I share this experience about less active families is because my parents were once in active. Thankfully they decided to become active before my siblings and I were born, and so we were all raised in the true chruch of Jesus Christ. But as I have been here on my mission, my parents have shared with me their stories of being in active and re-activating. My Dad was in active for 25 years of his life, my mom for about 10. I had always known there was a time when they were not doing what was right, but never knew how much it has affect who I am and who they are. My parents have been such examples to me of how real the atonement of Jesus Christ is, that no matter what we do, we can always repent and come closer to our Savior. I saw how through this knowledge they gained from re-activating, brought us through the hard times and made us stronger as a family. I am grateful for the examples of my parents on how they showed me the straight and narrow path, and have led the way. I love helping those who have lost their way find it again through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and through Repentence. I know Jesus Christ is my Savior and my Redeemer and that it is only through him and his Restored Gospel that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father.