My wife and I have an experience that relates to the principle, We Cannot Predict and Should Not Judge.

As converts, my wife and I prayed continuously for a missionary experience for a quarter century. It never came. We thought we knew what it looked like until Bill (name changed) strolled into our lives.

Bill has a long history of prison, narcotics and alcohol abuse before I met him at 30 years old. Because I struck up a conversation, he would later come to my door with a puppy and backpack for a place to sleep. He was clean, so my wife and I let him in for that evening. With each passing day, my wife and I were provided a comfort that counseled us about the high level of his newly found integrity and that it was authentic. He paid rent for his room through odd jobs. In the meantime, the peace found between my wife and I rubbed off on him. Pre-existing parole delayed his baptism for many months. He would remain with us for a year.

After a time, Bill asked to use my debit card to set up an auto-pay though an LDS online dating service. After a time, he and Sarah (name changed) connected. Sarah was an ordinance worker 3,000 miles away on the mainland: Arizona. Before Bill, Sarah was determined to marry someone temple-worthy. With the Temple nearly a year away for Bill, Sarah received a witness that she could trust him. After their second face-to-face meeting and a great, great many telephone conversations and letters, they married on a rustic beach in Hawaii. A year later, they were sealed in the temple. They now have a child and live in the Boston area.

The blatant irony for my wife and I (married for more than 40 years) is that WE have become estranged with our only child to drugs. He will have nothing to do with us except should we begin paying him for the privilege to see our two grandchildren. That we would not do. So, we were given another son.

-Robin and Roberta. Hawaii