We said good-bye to sixteen missionaries who will now go back and bless lives by their growth and conversion to the gospel. I know for many of them the transition home will be harder than the transition into the mission field. Adjusting to the world, while "holding the ground" (Jeffrey R. Holland) they have won, can be challenging. Families and friends, you can help them by allowing them to be different than before they left. You can help them by not inviting them to do things that are now not in accordance with who they want to be. You can help them by allowing them to lead and following their examples. For those who have made great changes, they may not be recognizable to some of you. Celebrate their goodness, their conversion, and the light they bring with them. When they leave, I am always reminded of the line from Star Wars, "I have felt a great disturbance in the force . . .." It is hard to lose their strength, their leadership and their determination to do good and be good.
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| Departing Missionaries |
We also said good-bye to one of our assistants, Elder Moe. It is with heavy hearts that we send him home. He has been a warrior for all that is right and good in a missionary's life. His legacy of great love and leadership will be felt for a long time in the lives of the missionaries he touched and taught.
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| Elder Reid, Elder Wengert, Elder Moe, Elder Hodges, Elder Suiaounoa on a very humid day! |
We welcome Elder Reid! He will bring strength and insight into our efforts to help our missionaries understand who they are and why they are here. Our assistants will be rotating in and out of the office. Two will always be in the field on exchanges blessing the companionships and work of the missionaries. We love having them in the field helping, supporting, counseling and lifting. These young men will be the catalyst for change and growth in the lives of many. We are ever so grateful for them.
We got sad news from home today. Our oldest grandson, Daxton, broke his collar bone. While we yet do not know the extent of the injury and whether he will need surgery or not, it is difficult to be 6000 miles from home when there is crisis. While this is not the first crisis we have faced since being here, and certainly it won't be the last, these prove to be the most challenging pieces of serving a mission. I am learning to wait on the Lord and seek comfort in knowing that He can take better care of them than I can. I wonder if I will ever get better at this, though. I struggle to be still and let Him do His work in my life and the lives of those I hold most dear. This most recent event was caused by the careless actions of another and prevents Daxton from playing on his school volleyball team and yet, he is not angry. His father said of him, "You wouldn't believe how incredible this young man of ours is. He is not mad; he just seems to be letting it all roll of off his back. What did I do to get such an amazing kid? He is naturally good to the core." And he is. Lessons on faith and patience from an injured boy reach and teach his grandmother 6000 miles away. He seems to understand so clearly counsel given by many and spoken so eloquently by Elder Neal A. Maxwell: "The acceptance of the reality that we are in the Lord's loving hands is only a recognition that we have never really been anywhere else."
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