My mother taught me a lot of things, but they had big presuppositions built in - like her expectation that I'd be a missionary nurse in a religious order.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
My mother, a teacher, encouraged me to use my creativity as an actual way to make a living, and my father, a Mississippi physician, did two things. First, he taught me that all human beings should be treated equally because no one is better than anyone else, and he never pressured me to become a doctor.
I was sent to a nice Church of England girls' school and at that time, after university, a woman was expected to become a teacher, a nurse or a missionary - prior to marriage.
My own grandmother went to great lengths to make sure I knew simple things like how and when to open the door for a lady. And the best thing my mama taught me was to pray.
My mother was a teacher.
My parents taught me service - not by saying, but by doing. That was my culture, the culture of my family.
When I was growing up, I went to an Irish-Christian missionary school.
When I think of how we show faith, I cannot help but think of the example of my own father. I recall vividly how the spirit of missionary work came into my life. I was about thirteen years of age when my father received a call to go on a mission.
I got to grow up with a mother who taught me to believe in me.
My grandmother and my father always said I would end up as a missionary. Well, I feel like I am one now.
More by example than by word, my father taught me logical reasoning, compassion, love of others, honesty, and discipline applied with understanding.