Memories of Mandi: Day 1

I met Mandi at Girls' Camp. It was her first year, and she was a tiny little thing; smaller than any twelve-year old I'd ever seen, but as chipper and excited as the rest of them combined. Mandi had no fear; she went at everything with contagious excitement and brought everyone else along with her.
At twelve, Mandi had platinum-blonde hair, that, though darkening later, seemed to me a trademark of her, since one of her Secret Sister gifts was a ponytail wig the exact color of her own hair. She wrapped it around her hair and wore it all day, and we got many a good laugh out of it.
We hiked to Minnetonka Cave that year, if my memory serves me, and Mandi fell behind fast. We stopped for her a couple of times, but she didn't like that, so eventually we just went on, slowing down as imperceptibly as we could.
As hikes, go, eventually we separated into two groups: the fast group, and the group who couldn't keep up. There were sub-groups in between; slightly slower than fast, slightly faster than slow. I was in one of those, and so was one of the first to see, coming around the corner, the Bishop's wife plodding along behind us, with Mandi on her back.
She carried Mandi until the latter could walk again, and then, when she got tired, she would be gently picked up again by the Bishop's sweating, grinning wife, and carried. I watched with tears in my eyes. I was unsure why I was tearful; except that I knew how hard it would be for one person to carry the weight of two, no matter how small the second. Now I know a little bit more: I saw that day the perfect picture of Christ. Mandi represented us: tiny, determined; but tired, not strong enough to make the whole hike. The Bishop's wife represented Christ: she walked alongside Mandi until she couldn't go on, and then, in the most Christlike and charitable way she knew, she carried her. The next year, not only did Mandi make the hike on her own, she kept to the front of the pack and enjoyed every moment.
In this way, Mandi taught me three great lessons: first, that Christ will carry anyone who cannot make it on their own; second, that that is okay; and third, that there is a next time, and that the struggle of the first time makes for strength and joy upon tackling the second.