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August 6, 2003 --
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And now it came to pass that as Alma was journeying from the land of Gideon southward, away to the land of Manti, behold, to his astonishment, he met with the sons of Mosiah journeying towards the land of Zarahemla. Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto him; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.
Alma 17:1-2
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I couldn't seem to write this page yesterday, so I decided that maybe I wasn't supposed to and waited until today. I'm glad I did, because I had a great experience this morning.
I've been a little down lately, because there seems to be a real lack of temple-worthy young people in this area. I've been a little worried about my chances of finding a young woman who places as much importance on spirituality and loving the Lord as I feel I do. While I trust that the Lord will provide someone for me in his own due time, I have to admit that I've been feeling a little impatient and even begun to have some doubts.
My mother and I ride the lightrail into downtown each morning, me on my way to school and her on her way to work. Today I happened to look a seat ahead of us on the other side of the train and noticed a young woman reading. The familiar printing of the book caught my eye. The top of the page said "Exodus," and by the double-column layout and footnotes at the bottom, I immediately recognized it as a Latter-Day Saint printing. I no sooner made this observation to my mother when the young lady put her bookmark (one of the silk ones attached to the spine) in place and turned to Mosiah in the Book of Mormon.
Now, the obvious idea of why this would have been such a great experience for me is that I walked up the girl and started talking to her, and am going out with her next week, right? While that is not the case (I didn't even so much as look her in the eye), it was still a great experience. The reason is that I left that train this morning with a little more hope than I had before. People who are my age and not only study their scriptures every day, but are not embarrassed to read them on a crowded train in front of everyone, really do exist. And if one such young woman lives in Portland, I'm sure that more do. Someday I'll meet such a person, and I will talk with her, and eventually I'll find the rest that I am seeking.
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