It's a small world afterall

Today, working out, my friend Linda and I and her daughter were talking about the new missionary that just got assigned to our ward. Linda and her husband and daughter had the missionaries over to dinner and was describing the new elder. (He has some big shoes to fill, as the elder who just left to go home was a fantastic missionary and everyone loved him.) The conversation moves into our favorite elders, and what we loved about them. Linda mentions that when they lived in New Jersey, there was a missionary they LOVED, whom they'd had over to dinner QUITE a bit. She mentioned that she wished she could have written his mother to tell her how proud she should be of him, because Elder Farnsworth was just fantastic. I jumped in an mentioned that one of A's neighbors and good friends were named Farnsworth....but that she probably didn't know the boy since he has since passed away. Her eyes got really big, and she proceeded to tell me that it IS the same Elder, because she'd gotten a letter from his new wife, telling them of his passing-- She'd gone down his address book and send a letter to everyone in it. We compared notes, and sure enough, it is the same Ricky Farnsworth. I had goosebumps up and down my arms, neck and back. It was the strangest thing. So, I have been pondering on it today, and realized that I need to be sure to take really good care in how I treat people, as they are something special to someone. I've also concluded that the whole "example" thing really means something, as people you don't even know yet might hear about you through someone else... And you never know who you'll run into in your travels. What a small world