Can you do the opposite?

After I graduated high school, I decided to serve as a proselyting missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for 24 months. I applied for and received notification that I had been selected to go to Chile.

I immediately began preparations to embark on this new adventure. I could hardly contain my excitement to go to a different country and learn Spanish, despite my subpar performance in high school Spanish. I picked out my suits from the Sears and Roebuck catalog, ordered them and things were moving along.

As the oldest of six kids, I was the first to leave home. My parents felt that one last family vacation needed to occur. We were living in Spokane, Washington, so my parents decided to take us all to Canada. We went north and enjoyed the fall weather and beautiful sights. My siblings and I loved the alpine slides best. We got pretty good at screaming down the hillside at breakneck speeds. We also enjoyed the miniature golf.

The town that we stayed in had a theater that offered seasonal plays. My parents thought it would be fun to get tickets so we could go as a family. When we learned of their plan, we did not feel the same elation my parents did. In fact, we felt the exact opposite and let our feelings be known. Despite all this, my parents insisted that we go.

We have a family photo of all six of us kids dressed up, ready to go to this stinking play. Except for the youngest kid (who was almost eight years old), none of us had a smile on our face. I was the most vocal critic. I complained that these last few days should revolve around me and what I wanted to do.

We begrudgingly went to the play. By the halfway point, we had tears in our eyes from laughing. Despite my bad attitude, we all had a great time. But it almost did not happen due to my selfishness.

I reflected on my attitude for several days. I remembered the scripture about the last days in KJV 2 Timothy 3:2, “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy.” I remember realizing that I had almost wrecked a great evening. I still see that picture of us on the stairs. It reminds me of my failings, but of also a lesson I learned.

After returning home, I continued to prepare for my mission. I got the white shirts, ties, and good shoes. I said goodbye to my friends, did several “last” things, including a ski trip where I tweaked my knee. It really hurt and I needed an MRI of the joint. Our doctor told my parents and I that if the MRI showed damage, I could not go to Chile. But if it revealed that I just had a bad sprain, I could leave for South America.

I prayed before that MRI, I had my father give me a blessing of health. I did not want this accident to derail my mission plans. Thankfully, the MRI showed no damage, and I was cleared to go.

I now thought again, of this “miracle” of my knee not being damaged and I knew the Lord wanted me to go to Chile. But the nagging thoughts of my misbehavior in Canada filled my mind. What could I do to make amends? As my time at home came to an end, I knew that when I returned two years later, everything would be different.

My family took me to the airport, I got on the plane and left. They all returned home from the airport, sad that I had finally departed. They went about their day and later that evening one of my sisters went into my bedroom. She found what I had left for them.

To make amends, I left a card for each member of my family. I wrote a personal note including my thoughts and feelings for each of them: how much I loved them, how proud I was of each of them, how much I was going to miss them, and how I hoped and prayed that they could be the best version of themselves. As they read their letters, tears flowed again in our home.

I had thought again of that scripture in 2 Timothy 3:2. Perhaps for the first time in my life, I made the conscious decision to do the opposite— honor my parents, to be thankful, holy, humble, outward focused, and loving—not to see my reflection in the Apostle Paul’s description of self-obsessed youth in the last days. So, I did what my 18-year-old mind thought of and picked up some cards and wrote in them the feelings of my heart. I would love to say that since that time I continued in my commitment to do the opposite of that verse, but that would not be true. But I am grateful that, for a moment, I stepped outside of myself.

Dr. John Boston is a father, husband, grandfather, local physician and Colonel in the Alaska Air National Guard. He believes in Christ and is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.