Taylor Smith wrote a special letter to herself just days after returning from a missionary trip with very specific instructions - "Do not open until 2023." However, the letter would be opened less than a year after the 12-year-old wrote it, but it wouldn't be her eyes reading the words.
Taylor died from complications linked to pneumonia. Her grieving parents, Tim and Mary Ellen found the letter when they were going through her belongings. Tim and Mary Ellen where shocked - not by the fact their daughter had written a letter to her future self, but by what she had written.
Here's the full letter: Dear Taylor, How's life? Life is pretty simple right now (10 years in your past). I know I'm late for you, but as I'm writing, this is early, so; congratulations on graduating high school! If you didn't go back and keep trying. Get that degree! Are you (we) in college? If not, I understand. We do have pretty good reasoning, after all. Don't forget, it's Allana's 11th birthday today! Sheesh, 11 already? In my time, she just turned 1! I didn't get to go to that party though, because I was in Cranks, Kentucky for my first mission trip. I've only been back for 6 days!

"Her letter has been translated into at least 16 languages and it has been reported in over 30 countries," said Taylor's uncle,Jeff Oakes. "God has really used her story to touch many lives. When Taylor was alive she wanted to travel around the world and share Jesus. In her death, she has truly done it!"
Taylor sums it up best herself, "Stuff has happened, good and bad. That's just how life works, and you have to go with it."