As a stake leader, one of my favorite agenda items on our Stake High Council Meeting is when we have a recently returned missionary gives his/her report of their mission. Tonight, we were supposed to have TWO such reports, Hermana Tonini and Elder Ringen. Unfortunately, Elder Ringen (who had served in India) was sick leaving Hermana Tonini as the only missionary on the agenda. In retrospect, it was a good thing because it allowed Hermana Tonini to take as much time as she needed to report. President David Parker (first counselor in the stake presidency) was conducting the meeting from Williston while Hermana Tonini and her mom were in the High Council Room at the Stake Center in Minot with the stake president, President Tyson Williams) and a few members of the high council. I was in Houston so I was also participating by phone (which allowed my brother to listen in as well).
I was surprised, but not surprised, by the example she chose to illustrate how her mission had impacted her life. I knew it would be one of two people - and both are very near to her heart. By going with the one she did, I think she kept the more sacred experience to herself. I will admit that I have been coaching Hermana Tonini since she left on her mission for this night. I don't know if that helped or not, but she was AMAZING. She articulate. She was sincere. She bore heart-felt testimony of the Savior and of the restored Gospel. She answered questions from the high council as if she had walked in the answer already written in front of her. To conclude, she bore her testimony in her mission language (which fortunately, my Portuguese enabled me to understand). As parents, this absolutely put the cherry on top of her mission!
I sent her text later that night to let her know that she continues to set the bar higher and higher for the young man who aspires to be her eternal companion!
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