Wait, did you say 3?

2 Corinthians 13:1 reads: "...In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established".  My parents either seriously internalized this scripture, or are poor planners.  Currently they have 3 children serving missions around the world.  We joked as I was growing up that this could potentially happen, but didn't really think of it as a reality at all.  The day I decided to serve my mission was the day we realized that we would be serving for at least 9 months all at the same time.
My parents definitely take a lot of credit for this incredible anomaly.  We were all raised in a loving home where the gospel was a regular part of our home.  This doesn't mean we were the Brady Bunch, but we were happy almost all the time.  Why were we so happy?  It is all due to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Every Sunday since I can remember we were at church.  Rain or shine, vacation or home, cranky or happy, we were there.  There were, and still are, many Sundays that my parents would have rather locked us in a cage and gone to church without us so they wouldn't have to chase us around or keep us still.  But, they knew that one day the struggle would pay off.  We also had a family night once a week.  Our family nights are some of my fondest memories.  But, the biggest thing that has helped all 7 children in my family is our nightly scripture reading and prayers.  It was where we really learned the scriptures.  From the children's picture books to the standard Book of Mormon, we read it all.  My testimony of the gospel started with our family scripture study.

Without my parents teaching us these good habits while we were young, there would be no way all 3 of us would be out right now serving the lord.  There would be no way any of us would have as strong of a desire, as we do now, to spread the gospel to everyone around.  We are who we are because of our parents desire to serve and follow the Lord.

Okay, now to tell you where we all are.  Starší (or Elder) Christopher Nestman, is serving in the Prague Czech Republic mission and has been out for almost 22 months.  The other, Elder Trevor Nestman, is serving in the Dallas Texas mission speaking Spanish.  He has been out for almost 6 months.  Both of my brothers have been loving their missions.  Devoted to the Lord and serving with everything they've got.  Then, there's me, Sister Brittany Nestman of the Santa Rosa California mission and I have been out for.......we won't count the time. 

One of the most amazing blessings has been to be able to email each of my brothers every week on pday.  Sharing experiences, expressing our odd sense's of humor to each other, and growing spiritually together has been indescribable!  The gospel is the same no matter where you are and people are asking the same questions in different languages.  Though we aren't all speaking the same language, we are doing the same thing.  United in purpose.  With our powers combined, we can do great things.

Each one of us knows this church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, to be the only true church.  We are serving, because it is what the Lord wants us to be doing.  Without missionaries, my mother would not be a member.  Without missionaries, my father's father would not be a member.  My family would not be what it is now without the service of those missionaries that sacrificed the time in their lives to serve the Lord.  The least each one of us could do, is spend a short period of our lives in the service of our Father in Heaven.