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He Laughed and I Cried

The bond of love between converts and their missionaries can be a strong and eternal tie.

Tricia was born and raised in Scotland. On January 12, 1991, two missionaries knocked on her door in Dumbarton. She invited them in and “I knew as soon as they started to speak,” she said, “That what they were telling me was true. They left a book of Mormon on my coffee table. I just wanted to keep touching it! I knew that whatever was in this book was going to change me for the better.”

She was baptized March 3, 1991.

One of her missionaries, Elder Parent from Sunnyvale, California, promised her that when she went through the temple, no matter where in the world he was—he would be there. He returned home from his mission and there was no more contact.

By March 1993, Tricia, now married, received her temple recommend and made an appointment to go through the temple for the first time in Logan, Utah. She had no idea how to reach Elder Parent. Then, “a week before my temple appointment,” she said, “Elder Parent called me to ask if I had been to the temple yet! (I don’t know how he got our number). I gave him the information for my endowment, and he said he would be there.”

All was set, but the night before she was to go to the temple, she received a call from the temple office asking her if she would please come an hour earlier than scheduled. “I was devastated,” she said. “I had no idea how to get in touch with Elder Parent to let him know about the earlier time.”

The next day, she showed up at the appointed hour—no sign of Elder Parent. She kept looking around the session room, but he was not there. “I was so sad,” she said.

Then, at the very end, “When all was finished, ‘Heavenly Father’s representative’ took my hand to invite me to the other side.” Tricia passed through and looked up. “To my shock,” she said, “It was my Elder Parent. He laughed, and I cried! I remembered his prophetic words from 1991 in a wee flat in Dumbarton, Scotland, wherever, and whenever you go through the temple, ‘I will be there.’ My heart was full of love for my Heavenly Father for that great blessing in my life.”

Story contributed to Tricia Crane