I Want to be a Missionary Now...

This last week was "Missionary Week" in Seminary...the kids were supposed to spend the week living like a missionary, including spending an entire day dressed like a missionary (Colby doesn't have a suit so this is as good as it was gonna get...)  The entire activity was worth a whopping 1840 points...a HUGE deal!  Some of the things he was required to do were:

• No television, computer, ipods, or video games.
• No music other than church music
• Read the scriptures 15 minutes a day
• In bed by 10:30 p.m. and up by 6:30 a.m. (an easy one, although he thought it meant he was entitled to stay up until 10:30 every night when his actual bedtime is an hour earlier)
• Do your own laundry (my personal favorite)
• Plan and cook a meal for the family (ok...maybe that one is my favorite)
• Plan and hold a family home evening
• Do a significant act of service for someone daily (he thought he wouldn't be able to come up with any acts of service but I proved him wrong...)
• Memorize some scriptures
• Learn the Joseph Smith lesson.
• No physical contact with the opposite sex (no texting or phone calls either)
• Many other things that I can't remember now...

I have to admit I was a little skeptical of the activity when, after just one day, he was doing nothing but complaining about how he couldn't do anything and he was bored out of his mind (I thought..."is this supposed to make them want to GO on a mission?...or make them think being a missionary sucks so they don't WANT to go?")  But once he embraced the activity, he actually did well.  He was able to catch up on his scripture reading for class, reading way more than his required 15 minutes.  He learned to sort and do the laundry, and he even washed the other kids' laundry while he was at it (I told him I had lots of service that he could do...) He discovered some good magazines that Patrick has and spent time reading them.  And best of all--I didn't have to beg him to get up in the morning!
I am so proud of Colby and how well he did!  After the first day he went to school and found out that most of the kids in his class had not followed through on the first day, and I think it motivated him to do well with it. Despite his complaining in the beginning, he took it very seriously...(he even refused to check off a day for no television because he happened to be sitting at the table doing homework while I had the TV on, even though he wasn't watching it...I had to really work to convince him that it didn't count.) It also gave us a chance to talk to him about what the missionaries are REALLY doing all day, and Patrick assured him that they are rarely bored (and by happy coincidence, the missionaries came to our house during the week...I think it made Colby more curious than he might otherwise have been).
I know I'm going to blink and he'll be 19 and it will be time for a REAL mission..(Sad for me...he'll never be my little boy again after that)  Sometimes I get nervous, wondering if I have done enough to teach him what he needs to know and help him build a testimony of his own.  I hope so...