But I'm getting ahead of myself. Even though this is our fourth child, ergo our fourth set of discussions with the missionaries, Sydney definitely made each and every one of them unique. On the very first discussion, she got deep into dinosaurs, continental drift, time travel and boomerangs. I'm still not entirely sure how she made those leaps when the discussion focused on prophets, the First Vision and the Book of Mormon. I have to say it was really entertaining seeing how the Sisters would try to tie all those tangents back into the topic at hand. We were also working on getting her squared away with ADD meds so that might have had something to do with her meandering mind. In any case, Sydney has come to adore those Sisters and the whole house has been filled with the Spirit.
When Sydney put on that tag and handed me a Book of Mormon, I asked her if I was supposed to read the whole thing- I mean, it's pretty long. I asked if she'd read it... which was definitely a leading question because we've been reading it all year and are almost finished. She came around to my side of the table and said, "So you can start right here" and she pointed at the first paragraph. Then she said, "Go ahead, read it." I realized she expected me to read it right then and there. When I was finished she said, "See? You can read it just fine."
After teaching me a few principles I asked, "How will I know if all this is true?" Again, I was unfairly leading her to tell me that I should pray about it and listen to the Spirit. Instead, she looked at me quizzically and said, "Welllll because I just told you!" The Sisters stifled laughter. Missions can be so hard, I hope teaching Sydney was a bright spot in their week.
Because they were definitely a bright spot in ours. Sister Oveson and Sister Parsons had special handshakes with each of the girls so saying goodbye got to be an epic thing. We were sad when Sydney finished the discussions but I know they have a lot of work to do!
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