This is a story of friendship that stretches across time and space — a true tale of a mother, her missionary daughter and a mutual friend they came to love, decades apart, amid unlikely, blessed circumstances.

Illustration by John Clark

Nilsa Gonzales, right, was introducted to the gospel by Melissa Taft, below, daughter of childhood friend, Heedy Torres Taft.

Their story began more than 40 years ago in an apartment building in Caracas, Venezuela. Two little girls, Heedy and Nilsa, discovered they were neighbors and soon became loyal playmates. But their young friendship ended when Heedy's mother married a Spaniard who moved his new family to Europe. Over the years, the friends never re-established contact with each other.

Years later Heedy returned to Venezuela to attend college. A talented athlete, Heedy also represented her country in an international sports competition where she met a Brigham Young University professor. Heedy learned from the professor that the Church-owned university offered a graduate program that interested her. With little money and no English the adventuresome Heedy moved to Provo, Utah, and enrolled at BYU.

While at BYU, Heedy Torres joined the Church and married a fellow member, Wayne Taft. The Tafts began their lives together, moved about the country and had six children, including a daughter named Melissa.

In 1998, Melissa decided to serve a full-time mission. The family was thrilled when she received a call to the Venezuela Barcelona Mission.

"My mother was really excited," said Melissa, who had grown up eating arepas and other Venezuelan cuisine but did not speak Spanish and had never traveled to her mother's homeland before beginning missionary service.

Melissa loved serving in Venezuela, but illness forced her to return to the United States 11 months into her mission.

"I was not released as a missionary when I came home and I wanted to return to Venezuela, but it looked as if I would be [reassigned] somewhere in the states," she said.

When her health improved she contacted officials in the Church's missionary department, pleading to return to Venezuela. Soon a welcome call came from Salt Lake City: she was to travel to the headquarters of the Venezuela Barcelona Mission the next day.

Melissa and three other sisters were assigned to Guiria, a city in eastern Venezuela. Their transfer marked the first time sister missionaries had served in that area.

Melissa remembers tracting one afternoon in Guiria with little success. "No one wanted to speak with us, everyone was sleeping, eating or watching a soap opera," she said. "We had been turned down left and right."

Still, the sisters continued knocking on doors until they reached a small warehouse. There they met a friendly woman who agreed to listen to the discussions. Melissa said the woman was the perfect investigator, open and sensitive to the Spirit.

"We loved teaching her because she didn't seem to have any doubts," Melissa said.

The woman agreed to be baptized. Her name was Nilsa Gonzales.

Soon Melissa finished her mission and returned to the United States. She kept in contact with Nilsa, who was quickly becoming a strength in her small branch in Guiria. Not long after her return, Melissa told her mother about her golden investigator.

"My mom told me that Nilsa was a rare name, then said she had once had a friend named Nilsa when she was little," Melissa said.

Melissa pulled out a few mission snapshots. Heedy thought she recognized her young pal in the face of the middle-aged woman in the photo. They immediately called Nilsa, who was shocked to learn her nearly-forgotten childhood friend from Caracas was indeed the mother of the young American woman who helped teach her the gospel.

"Everyone was crying," said Melissa, who is now married and lives in Virginia.

Now the three women look forward to the day when they can enjoy a reunion — friends and sisters in the gospel.

E-mail: jswensen@desnews.com