I told the missionary’s wife, I just want to go preaching with Thomas. That’s all I want. I was really trying to have a pure soul.

You’ll never do that, she told me.

We were outside. I had left the building to get some alone time and fresh air and she had followed me.

When I was young in the truth, she said, I was told to give up on my boyfriend—I’d get married off to some random Korean I didn’t care about.

She didn’t say it, but I knew she meant that’s what I should expect as well. We weren’t allowed to marry someone we liked.