A few things before I get to transfers to give you an idea of the caliber of the missionaries we are working with. We have a set of sisters who had made contact with a woman who had lived a very hard life, a lot of drugs and probably mental illness. One day this week she called the sisters and told them she was going to commit suicide and she needed them to come and stop her. They were understandably shaken up, things worked out ok, and the authorities took over, but it was a very unfortunate and upsetting incident. They wanted a blessing from Scott and so we ran up there to see them and for him to give them blessings. As he counseled them he was very clear that they did the right thing by getting the authorities involved, and that they need to step back from her. They were not equipped to help someone in her mental state, nor is that their purpose and that for their safety they need to stay away from her and block her number. I could tell one of the sisters felt better, but one of them was very quiet and still seemed unsettled. I asked her how she was feeling, and if she needed to talk some more. She simply said "can we kneel and say a prayer for that woman?" Wow. Where Scott was more concerned about the sisters and their well being, this sweet sister was more concerned about a troubled soul. We knelt and she said the most heartfelt and tender prayer and was such an example to us of Christ like love. We are learning much from these wonderful missionaries.
I have been able to spend some time with different sisters this week and I continue to be inspired by their stories and their lives. One sister comes from a small Island and is the only member of the church in her family. It took her 2 years to convince her parents to sign her missionary papers allowing her to serve. Which was a miracle given the fact that they are deeply rooted in the Catholic church. They were not happy with her decision to serve and she has not had one bit of communication from them in the 18 months she has been serving. Not a letter, not a package, not even an email. She didn't know who would be there to greet her when she got off the plane, but her whole attitude was one of gratitude for the blessing of serving, and testimony. One sister joined the church as a teenager, and had been a member for about a year and a half when she decided to serve a mission. She had family support, but is the only member of the church in her family. Another one comes from a semi active, but supportive family, but is the first missionary to ever serve from her family, and another one had a turning point in her life, when at 16 her father suddenly passed away and she had to decide for herself which path she wanted to take in life. She chose the path that led to Jesus Christ and a mission. She told me her family was at a cross roads at that time, and they felt the Atonement of Jesus Christ help them through their grief and solidify them in the gospel. In her words, she said they feel like her dad 'took one for the team' to ensure their family stayed on the right path. They all have conversion stories of one kind or another and they are all remarkable. I am inspired by them daily.
On Friday we started at 9:30 with a meeting to train the new trainers of the missionaries that will be coming into the mission on Monday. We had the two counselors in the mission presidency and their wives for dinner on Thursday night (which was so much fun, they are wonderful) and Scott had to slip out to call 11 missionaries to tell them they would be training and to meet at the office at 10 the next morning. It was such a great meeting, they were all so excited. We have one companionship of sisters, who will be training in a threesome. They are so darling. One of them got the call, hung up and said to her companion "honey, we are having a baby and it's a girl". They were all so full of faith and ready to take on the responsibility of setting the course of a new missionary's entire mission. I would be thrilled to have any one of them train one of my children and they definitely understand the magnitude of their responsibility. We went from that excitement to the excitement/sadness of the process of sending 17 stellar missionaries home. It was fun for me to be on this end of the process, all I knew was what their parents were feeling the day before a missionary comes home. I have been on that end, but I had no idea what happened on this end.
They all came to the office with their luggage, for it to be weighed and loaded into a trailer. There was so much activity in the office with elders and sisters coming and going, lots of goodbyes to companions, who were matching up with other companions for the next few days. There were a lot of tears, mixed with excitement. We met in Scott's office with them and talked for a bit, then we all went to a session in the temple. It was such a large group that the majority of the men in the session were our missionaries. It was a sacred time spent with them.
Elder Carroll is from Hawaii and is the most loving, generous young man. He has let us into his heart and, after only two weeks, calls us his mission parents. He even face timed us with his family to let us know he made it home to Hawaii. He had these leis made for us to wear for this farewell dinner and at the airport.
After the temple, we all came back to our home for dinner and a testimony meeting. I had to have everything ready for dinner for 23 before I left at 9 that morning. Luckily I have a wonderful woman named Gail who helped, along with Sister Stohl from the mission office. I could not have done it without them here to help put things in the oven, to help serve and they did all of the clean up. I was so grateful for them.
Since it was their last night, Scott let them take their coats off, and play some ping pong while we were finishing dinner preparations. I think they had a good time. We had a nice dinner and then went upstairs for a testimony meeting. It was a meeting I wish every parent could participate in at some point in their lives. Every one of the 17 were strong and valiant missionaries and bore such strong testimony. The spirit was very strong. It was so crazy, I have only known these elders and sisters for two weeks, and some of them I've only met a few times, but I felt such love for them. I shed tears that night and the next morning at the airport as we said goodbye to these remarkable servants of our Heavenly Father. I think we have been blessed to feel the love that the Savior has for each of them, and it was hard to let them go. We feel blessed to have been able to be a very small part of their lives, but even though we didn't get to serve with them for very long, they still have a very special place in our hearts and we love them.
They all left around the same time, with the exception of Sister Boraia who didn't leave until later in the day. She was able to attend a baptism for a man she had taught, so we took her to the baptism after the airport. She was able to spend the rest of the day with Sister Beck and Sister Cha. I met them at the church to take Sister Boraia to the airport and they wanted to come with me, she needed a good send off. We called and got permission from president and had the funnest time going to the airport and back. They were so helpful and loving and Sister Boraia and I were both happy to have them with us. They told me that since President has assistants, they think the President's wife should have assistants too and they would be happy to volunteer. I thought that was a great idea and told them I would run that past President. He just laughed, so I think it's a no, but you can't fault a girl for asking.
I got home, the assistants came over and we did transfer calls. Scott called all those who were going to be new leaders, then it was time to head to the airport to pick up Ethan and Preston. They had gone home on Thursday for my niece Sarah's wedding. Three times to the airport in one day ensures that I can find my way there on Monday morning when we get to pick up our brand new missionaries. We have 11 of them coming and we can't wait to meet them all. We love them already.
No comments:
Post a Comment