Future Missionary

Whenever Eric wears a tie around the house or to church, he tells us that he is being a missionary. Seeing the missionaries at church, his favorite thing to do is shake their hand and talk with them. Yesterday, the missionaries came over for dinner. We told Eric they would be coming, and he could hardly wait. He said the missionaries would probably not have their ties on because it was not Sunday. When I told him that they almost always wear their ties, his little eyes lit up because he realized that he would be able to see them and their ties at dinner. The missionaries arrived at our house and Eric immediately ran over to shake their hand. He then announced that they were in fact all wearing ties (there were three missionaries). During dinner, Eric controlled most of the conversation, telling the missionaries about all of the sea creatures that live in the ocean and about his Under-the-Sea birthday party. Finally, Eric stopped talking for a minute, and John took the chance to redirect the conversation away from sharks and sea life. This is the conversation that followed:

John: "Eric, what do you think the missionaries do on their missions?"
Eric: “They wear ties”
Everyone: laugh
John: "What else to you think the missionaries do on their missions besides wear ties?"
Eric: “I don’t know Dad, What?”
John: “Why don’t you ask the missionaries?"
Eric looking over at the missionaries: “What do you do guys?”
Missionary 1: “We teach people about the gospel”
Eric looking at his Dad: “They teach people about the gospel.”
John: “Eric, do you know what the gospel is?”
Eric (thinking for a moment): “No, what is the gospel Dad?”
John: “Why don’t you ask the missionaries.”
Eric turning to the missionaries: “What is the gospel guys?”
Missionary 2: "The gospel teaches all about Christ."
Missionary 3: "We also teach about Joseph Smith and how he was a prophet of God and restored the gospel."
Eric turning to his Dad: "Dad, the gospel teaches about Christ."

This type of conversation went on a little longer covering who Joseph Smith was and who the current prophet today is. Eric also told the missionaries all about his Uncle Ryan who is on a mission in Argentina. Now when Eric talks about President Monson he says, "The new Prophet Monson". Also when we talks about President Uchtdorf he says, "Uchtdorf, that is a funny word" then he laughs uncontrollably. It was the cutest conversation ever. It is so much fun to see little minds develop and ideas click in their heads.