Small and Simple things or rather, Primary & the Power of Pennies.

Like most other LDS children, I went to Primary. I sang all of the songs, I listened to all the lessons, and I did a darn good job in the Primary Programs. At least that's what my parents and grandparents always told me ;) I also dutifully attended all of the Primary activities.

But, to be perfectly honest, there's only one activity that I remember going to, and that's because of this can right here:

The activity was about serving missions. My sweet Primary leaders had the idea to take a large, empty can, seal it, and put a sizable slit in the top. This can was for us to save up for our missions, so when we got our allowance we could put part of it in there and by the time we were old enough to serve our missions that we would have a decent amount of money to put towards it.

I started out doing great, saving frequently and happily. Then when I grew up a little bit more, I'll be honest, I stuck it in my closet and forgot about it. At more than one point I even considered taking the can opener to it and then spending what was inside(an idea I passed onto my younger siblings and they actually followed up on it. For some weird reason, Mom wasn't very happy about that...). Fortunately I didn't, and in my later teen years I became much better about putting money in, especially after I received my spiritual confirmation that I was indeed going to serve a mission. I even got my youngest siblings excited about it, so much so that it became one of their favorite things to take spare change and drop it in.

Since my mission is right around the corner (party!!) I figured it was time to open this bad boy up.

Holy frijoles.

So, since it's just plain dumb for me to share my financial increase on the internet, I won't tell you just how much is in there, but I will say this:

Alma was right.

In Alma chapter 37, this wonderful prophet and missionary is giving his son, Helaman, council, and in verse 6 he says:

Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me;

but behold I say unto you, 

that by small and simple things 

are great things brought to pass; 

On their own, pennies, nickles and dimes don't mean much. But after years and years of collecting and saving, they become a pretty big deal:

In case you're wondering that cool looking pyramid is $4.50 in pennies.
I know, I'm a fabulous architect.

This is true of all sorts of things. Becoming a kinder person, quitting addiction, being happy, developing relationships, finding faith, learning to make the best brownies on the planet. Very rarely does something truly wonderful happen all at once. Sometimes the step are so little, that we are "in the middle before we've even realize we've begun" (Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice).

My mission is one of these things, because can I just say that all this makes my mission feel so much real? 

For more than a decade this can has symbolized my someday mission, the adventure that I might go on, but that's a looong ways away, if I even decide to go... 

Ha.

Not so much.

Not anymore. 

But, wait--didn't I just write my name and put those stickers on my missionary bank?!? Wasn't' I just in that quiet study, receiving the patriarchal blessing that got me thinking about a mission!?!! Wasn't I just sitting in the Relief Society General Meeting where I became serious about serving a mission??! Didn't I just get my call?!?!!

Apparently not.

And it's freaking me out a little (read: a lot. It's freaking me out a lot).

But let me tell you the coolest part of this whole thing.

Once I dumped out all of the coins, right on top, I found this guy.

That right there is a 20 centavo, or in other words, Mexican currency. I don't know where it came from, or when it got there, or how on earth it even got into my house, but out of the hundreds of coins that were in there, one of the first ones that I see just happens to be from the country I was called to serve in.

Coincidence? 

Nah, I didn't think so either. 

Only 21 more days!!!!!!!!