Do not let anyone feel lonely

If you read my blog you are probably someone who knows me. I think there are very few strangers who read this. Some of the readers are strange but that is different. If you know me, you know that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon. I saw this video the other day and I was sobbing by the end and the entire drive to work. It's part of the I'm a Mormon series, and I think it's the best I've seen.


When I was five years old, I wrote a letter to Mother Teresa. For some reason, as a small child I felt particularly drawn to her. Being undaunted by reality, I knew that when you write a letter you receive one in return. And I did.

This was the letter that Mother Teresa wrote to me 16 years ago:

Dear Lana,

God our Father loves you very tenderly. I thank you for your letter and your drawings.

Count your blessings one by one and thank God for all the love and care you have received through your mother and your friends. Do not let anyone feel lonely, unwanted, unloved. Be God's love to them through your smile, through your kindness. I am praying for you.

God bless you.

Mother Teresa

This is one of my most treasured possessions. And it is one that even if I lost, I would always keep. I am grateful that my life has always been steered facing religion. It has helped to shape my best qualities. It let me find my husband and it has been and always will be a reminder that I can do better things and I can be a better person. If I look for it, my religion and my love of God can give me daily inspirations to make today better than yesterday.

I feel very honored to have been one of the people to receive correspondence with Mother Teresa while she was alive.