It couldn't have gone quicker and easier. I think Mom might disagree on one point... the stress test. Her health criteria required a stress test. We all know Mom is able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, stop a speeding bullet and do it all without breaking into a sweat and with perfect hair and makeup. Nevertheless she submitted to the test and as we expected, came out with flying colors.
We received an email from the Missionary Office to ask us to rate our individual preferences on a scale of 1 to 5 relative to our service and living conditions, i.e. Hot, humid, cold, dry conditions; office or outdoors, working with computer, people or equipment, etc., etc. The email said we can expect our call in 4 to 5 weeks, so that is Feb 2 or Feb 9. If we are called to serve outside the US it may take 3 to 6 months to get a visa so departure date will depend on visa timing. We're excited to serve and are looking forward to receiving the call. We'll make sure family members are invited to the opening of the envelope.
This is the snap shot we took to post to the Church Missionary site. I was going to post a picture of us from our last mission, but we're looking a little more mature now and didn't want to shock our mission president when we arrive.
We received our new passports in the mail yesterday. Wow, that was fast... two weeks including mailing time! Don't expect us to post our passport pictures anywhere... ever.
Mom's journal entry:
We just got back from our mission interview with the stake president. As we came out of his office, Bishop Edmund was there with our papers and said his recommendation was all complete. That was so kind of him to run it all over so quickly. I had forgotten to sign a line so we got that done and it will all go in tomorrow I imagine. It seems a little amazing to me that it is all ready to go again.
It was so wonderful to talk to President Richards tonight. He asked us questions about preferences we might have or feelings about where we might be called, but we haven’t had any premonitions. He said his parents had served three missions—Africa, Pakistan and the South Pacific. They had worked with little branches giving them leadership support. That would be a wonderful assignment. We told him what was in our hearts, that we knew the Lord had a plan for us and we wanted that plan. He said we would be so wonderful at anything and that we had so much to offer. He said it was a grand thing that as you get older you can ask to be sent off to serve and the Church will find a place for you. That is something we are so grateful for. As long as we are willing and able, we can be used in ways we can’t even dream of, but the Lord knows and will support us so we cannot fail.
Pres. Richards asked if our children were supportive of our going and it was so wonderful to tell him that they all are, that they would do anything to help us and that they are proud of us. We are so grateful. It makes it easier to leave because when it comes right down to it, it feels like a bit of a sacrifice to go. We will miss important events, the children will grow up without us, we will not be able to put our arms around them and see them know us. We will all miss one another and look forward with longing to being together again. But it is worth it. And we have the Internet (probably—maybe—who knows).
I just feel so grateful tonight that Jim and I can do this together, that we want to do it and that the family is happy to support us. I know that we will be uncomfortable as we go because it will be new and we won’t have all the experience we might need, but I also know we will be delivered and it will work out. We can’t stay home. We have every good blessing and we owe ourselves—all that we have and are—to the Lord. And we have the courageous example of our dear sons who went on missions and did hard things to serve the Lord. And besides, we are return missionaries ourselves!
So here we go again.
Dad's testimony:
I want each of you to know that we want to serve the Lord because we know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior and Redeemer of the world. He has blessed us with all that is good; love, family, faith, hope and so much more. He has comforted us and has always sustained us through our trials and delivered us from our afflictions and they have become a blessing in our lives.
Mortality is not heaven. We are here to learn, gain experience, and overcome evil and choose good. We accepted the Father's plan of salvation in His presence, before we came to mortality. The gift of Eternal Life is precious and here in mortality we must show we are faithful and worthy to receive it. Now that we are beyond heaven's veil we must again receive the Father's plan of salvation, this time from our own heart, through faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Through the Atonement of Christ and by the power of God's priesthood we receive ordinances and make sacred covenants that will allow us to be together forever in the presence of the Father and the Son for time and all eternity. We know this is the plan and desire of our loving Father in Heaven.
We have shared this testimony with you all our lives in word and deed. Our hearts are filled with love for our Father in Heaven and for his children throughout the world. We are grateful to have served Him as missionaries before and know of the blessings that follow His service. We feel a debt of gratitude and want to serve Him and bless the lives of His children.
We love each of you and know that you have heard our testimonies and felt the Spirit together with us. The Lord will call us through a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson, to serve Him as missionaries. We know He will bless you while we are gone and He will bless and deliver us in His work and we will be better as a result of our service.
I am so grateful for your love, support, faith and prayers for us. It is definitely hard to leave loving family, friends and the comforts of home, but we know that our love will be sweeter upon our return and our home will be ever blessed to be a refuge from the world. I know that while we are away each of you will work to keep the commandments and serve the Lord by fulfilling your callings and offering service to others. Keep the commandments, honor your covenants and I know that we will be together forever.
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