LDS missionary age change allows Alabama brothers to serve at same time

“That was a pretty big blessing, I think,” Kirby said. “It’s a little frightening. But I know it’s prepared me a little bit, and I might be a little bit ahead of the game; I don’t know.”

For his part, Brady will learn a very foreign language as well, Croatian, though several languages are spoken in the countries of his mission. All use different alphabets from English, so not only will he learn a different language, he’ll learn a new alphabet.

At the end of the BYU-Idaho semester in December, Kirby went home to Alabama and went to the temple for the first time with his younger brother. The two received their endowments Dec. 27 in the Birmingham Alabama Temple, another milestone they were able to share (also, incidentally, the anniversary of their parents’ temple sealing).

The family drove from Alabama to Utah to take Kirby to the MTC. Two days before, they went to the temple together again, this time going through the Salt Lake Temple. April Fausnaught said, “One of the sisters who was helping us in the temple asked, ‘Are they twins?’” She said she responded, “'No, they’re not twins; they’re just close in age, 11½ months.’'”

April said the woman in the temple “didn’t understand if Kirby’s going in the MTC on Wednesday, how’s his little brother here with him? It was funny. We got a lot of attention. That’s for sure.”

April said she thinks “what interests most people when they hear about our sons’ mission calls is the part of the world they were called to. They hear one is going to St. Petersburg, Russia, and when they hear the second one, the expression on their face is this awe and shock. It’s quite interesting.”

Mostly, everyone loves to hear about brothers who love each other and are that close. As Brady said of Kirby, “He’s been my best friend since I was little. But we’ve always had that competition. I remember when we were little, we’d fight over my mom. But we’ve always been close.”

Kirby echoes that message: “Me and Brady, we’re 11 months apart, so we’re best friends and worst enemies. All that, but most of all, we care. I consider him my best friend.

“I’m extremely happy that Brady and I are going at the same time. Before it would have been a really long time and now it’s only going to be two more months (we won’t see each other). We’ll definitely be emailing each other throughout our missions.”

Cathy Carmode Lim is the founder of RatedReads.com, a website that reviews books and gives them ratings according to content. She is also a copy editor and blogs at LifeandLims.com.