The Ugly Floral Couch

The other day I knelt down to pray by our old ugly floral couch that has probably been sat on by missionaries since the early nineties. 

I thought for a minute, just how many missionaries have probably sat on this coach in the last maybe twenty years.

A day of missionary work consists of being on your feet, striving to talking to every single stranger you come in contact with. For me it means getting out of my comfort zone. It means sharing the thing I hold the most dear to my heart with complete strangers who may or may not slam their door in your face for offering them the one thing that makes you the happiest. 

Ultimately it means a lot of long days, and a lot of hard work. It sometimes means blisters on your feet and tears on your face. And after a long day of work often the first place a missionary goes is the couch. 

So I thought about those missionaries. How many long days of walking and knocking and teaching came to a close on this ugly floral coach?

And I wondered if others, like me, ever knelt next to this ugly couch to offer up their nightly prayers. How many conversations were had with God about the people they had met, or the trials those missionaries were going through.

I thought again for a second about why we do all of this. Why do we spend our waking hours running from house to house handing out Book of Mormons and small pictures of Jesus? Why do we keep doing it? 

Because we know it's true.

As I thought about it for a minute the ugly floral couch taught me that all of those long days of hard work are worth it, because everyday I get to testify to the world of the one thing that makes me happy.

So I knelt down next to that ugly floral couch and offered a prayer of gratitude that I was here, in central Florida, serving a mission. I thanked my Heavenly Father for the blessings He's given me and for the knowledge I have that my family can be together forever.

I think I remember shedding a tear or two onto that ugly floral couch that night. And I added to the testimony this couch bears that this is a sacred work that we have been called to do.

I'll never look at that ugly floral couch the same way again, because to me it means we have the truth, and we are going to tell the world about it. One day long at a time.

Sister Whitney Reid

Florida Orlando Mission