The introduction to Everyday Missionaries says our families will be blessed with spiritual strength when we experience people being taught the gospel in our homes. My family has experienced that!

What started as a way to gather our family together for a meaningful meal turned into a wonderful way to share the Gospel!

In 1998, my husband and I began what we call our “Big Saturday Morning Breakfasts.” Initially, we thought it would be a way to re-connect with our oldest teenagers who were so busy in high school with classes, friends and jobs. Saturday morning seemed to be the only time we were all available for a meal. Who can resist the smells of waffles, bacon, homemade sausage and gravy wafting through the house?

It quickly became the highlight of our week and brought our teens out of their much-loved sleep and into the kitchen with smiles.

Years ago, one of the kids asked if the missionaries would like to join us — our elders jumped on it. And since then, it has become a standing appointment for all missionaries serving in our ward to come to our house at 9 AM for our “Big Saturday Morning Breakfast.” All we ask is that they confirm they’re coming the night before.

The familiarity of having the missionaries over has become routine not only for our family, but for our kids’ friends. If they had sleepovers on Friday nights, they would certainly be there for breakfast come Saturday morning. In fact, even if there weren’t sleepovers, their friends would come simply because of the food! And if they came, they helped cook or prepare the food, set the table and do the dishes alongside us and the missionaries.

At the end of the meal, there’s a devotional given sometimes by the missionaries, sometimes by one of us — it doesn’t matter — and a small spiritual discussion follows.

How perfect is this setting? Sharing our home with our friends, sharing a meal, some laughs and a spiritual message?! We love it!

Because of this tradition, we have witnessed the miracle of conversions. Over the years more than 20 of our friends have been baptized, sealed in temples and served missions. Additionally, our children are converted too. Our oldest children have served missions and been married in the temple, and we currently have a daughter serving in the New York Rochester Mission as a Historical Site Sister at Palmyra.

From this tradition, we learned sharing the gospel is as natural a consequence of our friendships as is sharing a meal. When our kids are headed out for the evening with friends, Mormon or not, we invite them all to join in family prayer, too. Because our kids enjoy the missionaries, they are excited to introduce their friends to them too.

I say that while there are many programs designed to teach and enable members how to share the gospel, for our family, the easiest, most natural way has been to simply open our door and invite people inside.

-Dawn A. Colorado Springs, CO