Foreword

Foreword

If you’re alone in a room full of strangers, the first person you’ll meet and become friends with is Malori. She will make you smile, laugh, and put you at ease. Within minutes, she’ll discover the biggest obstacle in your life and then push you to the next step in overcoming that challenge. And you’ll enjoy every minute of it.

Malori Aslan Smith was born January 3rd, 1985 and died on June 30, 2002 while on a mission trip to Mexico. At 17, Malori was on her 17th mission trip. Malori died doing what she loved. The night before the accident, she told fellow missionary, Chris Kelley, “If you have to die, wouldn’t it be awesome to die on a mission trip serving God?”
In a postcard dated June 30th, she wrote, “I’m doing awesomely! God is doing so much in my life it’s amazing. We got to tour the Centro Historico and meet the president of Mexico-all because of God’s favor. In the plaza alone, we saw 150 salvations in one afternoon! We saw 1000 in one week. It’s awesome changing the world. Told you I’d do it someday.”

Malori loved to write. She has six active journals, letters, postcards and videos of her life. On June 23rd Malori wrote, “I have been seeking God about what His plans are. God just now reminded me of a word spoken over me at Vineyard conference in California. I remember four specific people praying over me and one told me that my writings would be used to glorify God.”

This book is Malori’s spiritual journey-from apathetic Christian to a modern-day martyr. As much as possible, I compiled her writings exactly as I found them. If there was a key point and her handwriting was very legible, I scanned it into this book directly from her journals. Malori approached her writings, her relationship with people and her relationship with the Lord the same way–raw, real, and inspirational. “I hope to change at least one life by simply living my own,” she wrote. “But somehow different, simply because people can relate to her. Because she took the time to write about life.” As it turned out, Malori herself wrote over 98% of the words in this book.

In compiling this book, I faced several challenges. First, was correlating the poems, journal entries, and letters since very little was actually dated. This forced me to deeply analyze and reflect on Malori’s writings, look for clues, talk to her friends, and pray. In the process, I learned more about Malori than I knew before. Second, I had to determine what to include in this book and what to leave out. In the preface, she said she intended these journals to be published–a blanket permission statement to publish whatever I found. On the other hand, the people that Malori wrote about are all living. So I sought permission, changed some names, and removed some stuff that I thought wasn’t necessary to tell Malori’s story. Yet, what you are about to read is still very raw, very real, and hopefully, will help you “live the best, most enjoyable life in Christ and humanly possible.”

A fellow missionary, Adam Turner wrote, “Hey Mal, just thinking about you today. I was thinking of all my friends and how each one of them has a quality that really sticks out. I believe we all have a characteristic of Jesus inside of us that helps us to see and understand what He’s like. It would take a book to list all the things I love of about you, but what comes out the most is your smile! I don’t remember your face without your wonderful smile! It was kinda like fuel for my gas tank for that day. I believe I have a better understanding of my best friend Jesus because of your wonderful smile! Thank you so much! I’ve never looked forward to heaven so much as I do now! The thing about heaven I’m realizing is that its wonder and beauty aren’t in the golden streets or the pearly gates, but what makes heaven are the people in it! Heaven’s never looked so good! See ya soon, Adam.”

One of Malori’s favorite quotes was, “What we do in life echoes in eternity.” She truly believed and acted as if her life could make a difference. Parents and teens alike will get a personal look into the life of a teenager that really understood the grace of God. We believe that thousands of lives will be changed through her book.

All the proceeds from Malori’s Smile will go towards a non-profit organization called Aslan’s Army, whose goal is to support 10,000 missionaries. Until we’re with Malori & the Lord in heaven, we will carry her message forward.