Seeing Friends

Yes! In just two days I'll be heading up to Rexburg to see my best friends in this whole world, actually, my only friends really. I've grown so close to the wonderful people that I met up at school that I don't know what I do without them here back home. I see that my potential to be a better person has gradually diminished over the summer with a lack of friends. Any gift that I might have to bring a little laughter to other people has grown dormant, and that makes me so sad. The only thing that I want in this world is to see those I care about happy, I love to see that shining light of joy in their eyes and laughter all around, it's what lifts me up, what gives me strength and hope in a world full of so much that is in opposition to the Spirit of the Lord.
You see, all my years before going to BYU-Idaho, I had one friend who I saw very little of and who wasn't even a member of the church. I was literally a social outcast in my school and I really didn't have much self-worth. When I went up to Rexburg, however, I finally found out what it was like to have friends, ones that shared my beliefs and standards. Most of all, they were honest and genuine. For the first time that in my life that I could remember, people complimented me, and that small aspect of their friendship meant so much. I know that may sound silly, but it's something I've never had. That's why my friends mean so much to me and why I enjoy going to Ricks so much. I don't want you to think that I don't love my family. I do, and I'm sure I'll learn to appreciate them above anything else on this earth as I grow up. But at this stage in my life friends are very important to me.
Oh! I can't wait, it'll be great to laugh freely again, and to smile so much that my cheeks hurt. An entire summer of daily drudgery and unsociableness is worth it, for just those few days of spending some time with friends before my mission.