My Pen Pal Journey

by Sandy Gustafson
(MN)

I started with pen pals several years ago in a magazine I picked up. I think it was called, "The Pen Pal Connection". A friend of mine had already been friends with pen pals and so I decided to try it. I really enjoyed it.

I had several from the US and two from Japan. But then I got busy with my children and all their activities. And then I lost three pen pals. One was a dear elderly lady. In fact, she was the only one that I met. And the other two I lost to cancer. And that was terribly hard on me, so at that point I slowly dwindled out.

About two years ago I had to deal with some terrible loss in my life. And my last child also left home for college. At that point I needed to be busy so I took on a second job. I really enjoyed the second job, but the physical demands with both jobs was more than my body could handle.And my doctor told me I was killing myself, so I had to quit that second job.

And it was at that point that I got on my knees and talked to my precious Lord and told Him I knew I couldn't depend on my work or family to make me happy. I needed to depend on Him for happiness. And about two days later, the good Lord put the idea in my head of going back to pen pals. And it's funny, as I hadn't even thought of it all those years.

A good friend, who is very good with computers, found me a good website and I found "Inky Trail News". I subscribed to that and I was just so excited to get that in the mail. I would sit down night after night and always find something new. So I started writing to a couple of people and they wrote back! I can't express to you the joy and excitement I feel every time I see a letter or tape in my mailbox!

I don't think I've been this excited over anything before like I am now. I just want to thank "Inky Trail News" and my new pals for writing to me as they bring me great joy. And I have never turned down a new friend. Thanks so much for your great publication and friends.