Virtual Pen Pals

By Stephanie Acerson

Stephanie Acerson lives in Utah, USA.

My family’s friend Aleksander told me about his niece Lule.* She is about my age, and he wanted me to get to know her. I didn’t think much of it, but a few weeks later, she added me as a friend on Facebook.

Photo illustration by Lloyd Eldredge; illustration by Steven Keele

Hi, Stephanie! I’m Lule, Aleksander’s niece. He told me that you and I are about the same age.

Hey, Lule. I remember hearing about you. Aleksander said you live in Albania. That’s so cool!

That’s funny—to me, living in America sounds cool! Hahaha. What are you doing this weekend?

I have a basketball game on Saturday morning, then I’m going to a Latter-day Saint temple. On Sunday I’m going to church. What are you doing?

Not much. I saw a picture of the Salt Lake Temple on the Internet. It is beautiful! My uncle told me that you are a Mormon, just like he is. I’ve been to church with him a few times. I really liked it! I would love to go every week, but I usually have things to do with my family on Sundays.

If you want, I can take notes at church each week and send them to you. That way you can learn more about what we believe in.

Oh, thank you! I would love to hear what you talk about there.

Hey, Lule! I hope you had a good week. Church was great yesterday. Here are some notes I took. We talked a lot about service and prayer.

• When we serve other people, we are serving God (read Mosiah 2:17 at scriptures.lds.org/bofm).

• Check out “Dayton’s Legs” on YouTube. It is about a boy who helped his friend with cerebral palsy compete in a triathlon.

• God is there for you and will listen to you when you pray. I found an article called “Improving Your Personal Prayers” that talks about how we pray.

Stephanie, thanks so much! That video was so inspiring! I pray a lot, and I want to do the right thing … but how can I know if what I’m doing is right?

Please counsel with your parents or guardians before communicating with strangers on Facebook.

• Names have been changed.

The Story Continues …

Stephanie is still teaching Lule about the gospel by sending her notes and answering her questions. Stephanie says that when she takes notes on Sundays, “the lessons stay with me more.” And by answering Lule’s questions, Stephanie gets to have meaningful discussions about the gospel with her parents. This experience has also taught Stephanie about missionary work. “I can still be a missionary even though I’m young,” she says.