Once Upon a Time....

We are sorry. In all of our excitement we forgot that not everyone knows out background.

So here it is from the start....

(Brad's tale)

The day I was born, it was very cold. It's like that feeling when you are swimming for a long time, and then you get out....and it is bitter cold. Yeah like that.

But skipping ahead. I was serving a mission in Taiwan Taipei, and was minding my own buisness when, the Lord sent me to train a wonderful Elder. I went to the training meeting then met my new companion. But not before I would meet my future companion. That is to say that me and my companion were one of the last to find out where we were going, because...as is always the case....ladies first. The sister missionaries found out their companions first. And one of the new sisters was...quite frankly...and lets be honest....drop dead gorgeous. I couldn't help but think that our paths would cross again. As it turns out...that was my dearest Rachel Smith.

Ok so I didn't really think that... but I did notice her, and thought that she was going to be a Fantastic missionary. We ran into eachother a couple of other times throughout our missions, but never served together. I always respected her, and enjoyed her testimony, at Zone Conferences. But there wasn't much contact till we got home. Which was about the same time. ( only about 6 weeks apart.)

Now for the better half of this tale.


If you want the truth...here's the history of it all in a nut shell. I (Rachel) winked at Brad...He Smiled at me... I fell in love with his face...and then I knew my life would never be the same again. It was love at first sight and I was a smitten kitten. :) j/k (but kind of not:))

Here it is:

So, there I was in 2005...a tough LONG ISLAND, New Yorker studying Broadcast Journalism at BYU. I knew what I wanted out of life and I was willing to get it...and a mission had never really been in that plan, but when I turned 21, I couldn't ignore the feelings the Lord was sending me to go and so a few months later I found myself "called to the work" in Taipei, Taiwan.

The next thing I knew I was in a "meet your trainer" meeting where they told us to eat as much of the Burritos we could because it would be our last "American" meal for a year and a half. So I met my trainer, and we start stuffing our faces with the very rare "mexican heaven" and I started talking to the people around me. I don't remember a whole lot, except I do remember meeting this really nice Elder Meldrum from New Mexico. This stuck in my memory because throughout my whole life I had only met like 4 New Mexicans, and they were all Super cool and really down to earth! At that time I was excited because Elder Meldrum fit the Stereo Type...and my pre concieved notions of New Mexicans was proving true. I also noticed that he had this glow of kindness around him, and I remember thinking, man, he is one good Elder. I could just tell.

Our mission paths never really crossed again, except maybe a few random times after that, but I remember in my last area a bunch of members were really sad one day and when I asked them what was wrong they said, "Elder Meldrum is returning to America today because his mission is over. He is the best missionary in this mission. He is so humble, so nice , so funny, and he really loves God" I believed them because of the way that I felt that first time I met him. Actually, the word on the street was that Elder Meldrum was the most Christ-like missionary in our mission.

But, missionaries in Taiwan come and go, and I was still on the lords errand until March 20, 2007 when I returned home to my families new found home in Smithville, MO. When I got off the plane from my mission my parents said, "Wow Rach, You haven't changed a bit!" And I was like, "What?" and I felt like I blinked and the next thing I knew they shipped me back off to BYU where Heavenly Father Brought Brad and I together first as "Tennis Buddies" and then as "Eternal Buddies"!

...and they all lived happily ever after.

The BEGINNING.