R.J. (10th Grade)

While contemplating my life up to this point, I realize that the highlights of it generally involved conferences and car rides. Where I used to live, my parents’ missionary organization would have meetings in the mountains every year, which was great for me because it meant I got to be with my friends for multiple days. Presumably the adults were praying and discussing important missionary stuff together, but that was never my problem. Before all of this, however, we had to drive for a few hours up winding (and often disturbingly narrow) mountain roads. By the time we arrived, someone in my family (usually me or one of my four brothers) would have gotten carsick—let’s just say that our car never smelled good.

On a different occasion we flew to Greece for a larger conference, then drove through much of Europe, arriving after a few days in Germany for—you guessed it—yet another conference. We took a longer route there so as to enter as many new countries as possible (missionaries are weird about travelling), meaning that I now have the glorious distinction of having been in France for a whopping 20 minutes, without actually leaving the car.