Lately I have been thinking about journals and personal writings. Letters and emails are also ways to keep a journal.
When my son went on an LDS mission, I started keeping an extra copy of our correspondence (letters & emails) in three-ring binders. After mailing the original, I kept the extra copy in a sleeve protector. If I received a note or letter from our missionary, it went into the same binder in chronological order.
The binders also contain copies of his mission call, letters from his mission president, and magazine articles about the Baltic nations.
This came in handy for a few reasons -- including the December that none of my cards and letters made it to him in Latvia. I just found out what weekly letters he was missing and printed them out from the computer again. I then mailed them to him. (He'd been thinking we had forgotten him.)
The biggest challenge were the weekly emails between us. I still need to print many of them out and put them in the notebook.
My son was an avid journal keeper on his mission. He has six or more journals filled with his thoughts, feelings, and experiences. They will be valuable for years to come -- not only for him but perhaps for others. The Baltic Mission countries have been opened to the Gospel for only a short time so the LDS Church is young there.
My husband is a more quiet, reserved man. His missionary journal is one small volume sharing his LDS mission in Peru. It is still a treasure to us even though it is short.
In my parents' home are boxes stuffed with letters written by my Mom and Dad to one another. My father was a military officer and served in Korea and Vietnam. My parents wrote letters nearly every day that they were separated. Each letter was numbered by them and there are hundreds of them.
Those letters are precious to me as they relate all the experiences at home that my mother felt to share with my dad. His letters were filled with practical advice and encouragement to a wife who kept his children and home intact.
Such letters document the lives of our family and bring back so many memories as we read them. I hope that the letters from my parents will also be important to their descendants for years to come.
Not everything of significance happens only to the rich, powerful, etc. Many of the lives to be honored were ordinary men and women who thought they were doing ordinary things but actually made significant contributions.
It reminds me of the classic Conference address by J. Reuben Clark which was reprinted in the "Ensign" a few years ago. It honored the pioneers who were usually forgotten and was entitled "To Them of the Last Wagon". (Reference: J. Reuben Clark Jr., “To Them of the Last Wagon,” Ensign, Jul 1997, p 35).
LDS.org - Ensign Article - To Them of the Last Wagon
If you have never read this message from J. Reuben Clark, it is a moving tribute to all who have helped build the kingdom of God -- not just the prophets and apostles.
