The last time I got to hug my son was eighteen months ago today.       Eighteen months ago today, I hugged my son for the last time for two years, and two years seemed like a very long time.  I couldn’t hardly think about how I was going to be able to handle two whole years!  I had just one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, say goodbye to my son for two years.  At the time two years seemed like forever!

Now here it is eighteen months later and two years doesn’t seem all that long. It almost feels like not long enough because of all the amazing blessings and all the growing I have seen in my son’s and in my testimony!  I almost don’t want his mission to end.

I said ALMOST.  Of course I miss my son so much, and I am so excited to have him home. I am so looking forward to hugging my son again, and  I just know that I will miss being a missionary mom, it has been one of the best things of my life. I also love seeing all the good and wonderful changes in my son.   I can’t believe how fast these eighteen months have gone!

Time will go by fast is what so many people would tell me, and I didn’t believe them.  The thing is, there was times when the time seemed to stop, and move at a snail’s pace!  Then there were times where it felt like I couldn’t believe that another month had past!  The last month went by the slowest!  Three weeks seemed like forever, I could hardly take it!

For some moms the time does seem to fly by, and for others it can crawl so slow, and  then there can be a mixture of both.  Either way, it reminds me of pregnancy , its different for everyone.

“Sister Lodwig, this is president Lopez, Elder Farner’s mission president.  I need to talk to you about Elder Farner.  I will call you back soon.”  A voice mail that brought fear to my heart!  Why did I have to miss that call, and now I have to wait for his mission president to call me back, because I had no way of calling the Philippines!

All kinds of thoughts were going through my mind!  What happened?  I knew that for the mission president to call me all the way from the Philippines it had to be something very important!  I couldn’t wait for him to call me back.  I think it was only a few minutes, but it felt more like forever!  I can’t speak for all missionary moms, but I’m pretty sure there isn’t a missionary mom that would be happy to get a call from their child’s mission president.  We all know that they usually only call with bad news.

FINALLY  he called back!  He needed to tell me that my son had a medical problem that would require surgery!  He reassured me that it wasn’t anything really bad, and that he could have the surgery there in Manila, and return back to the mission field as soon as me recovers.

My first thought was gratitude for it not being so bad.  Then my next thought was, is it ok to have surgery in the Philippines?  That’s where faith comes in.   I have to remember that our Heavenly Father is watching over His missionaries, and what ever happens, it will be for the best.

Not every missionaries will need to have surgery, or anything like that, but that never stops a mom from worrying.  We don’t like not being able to talk to our kids whenever we want, and just look forward to the emails once a week, and the two phone calls a year.

Even though you may worry( you will worry, that’s normal), I hope that you don’t let that worry overtake the joy that certainly can come as being a missionary mom.  Remember that your child, or children are being prayed for by so many, and besides the leaders of the church, the missionaries are the most prayed for people on this earth!

There will be things to worry about, besides the surgery my son had, he also had to deal with one of the most dangerous typhoons that have ever been on this earth, plus all of the other things no one ever let’s us know about.  I just had the peace that came to me that I know that our Heavenly Father is in charge and your child is exactly where they are supposed to be.  All will be well!  Don’t let the worry rob your JOY!

When I first got back into the car after saying goodbye to my son at the MTC, I was crying, and thinking to myself, “Why does it have to two years?  Why isn’t one year enough?”  I just couldn’t imagine how it was going to be not being able to see my son for two whole years!  Only being able to actually talk to him four times in those two years, on Christmas, and Mother’s Day!  Then only receiving emails once a week, and an occasional letter.  It just seemed way too long!

I had heard mothers of returned missionaries say that the two years went by a lot faster than they thought it would, and thought to myself that they must of not been as close to their child has I was with mine! There was no way that two years was going to go by fast for me!

Let me say that if this wasn’t the Lord’s work, and the blessings weren’t just flowing in, then yes the two years would have been very long.  Don’t get me wrong I missed my son very much, and there were times when the time did go by very slowly, but for the most part it went by very fast!

The blessings, the MANY blessings that just kept coming, and the growth I could see in my son and in my testimony was the reasons that one point I even said,   I am so glad that his mission isn’t just one year, and I’m not even sure two is enough!

Being a missionary mom isn’t something that everyone gets to be, and it is such an honor to be a mother of an missionary, so don’t get to missing your child so much that you wish that amazing time away.  Two years really does go by fast, and you will miss the emails, the twice a year phone calls home that mean so much, you will miss those letters.  Try to enjoy every second of those 18 months or 2 years!  Don’t wish that time away looking forward to their homecoming, because if you do you will miss out on some of the best time of your life!

I couldn’t believe how fast the six weeks at the MTC flew by!  Before I knew it it was time for Elder Farner to leave the safety of the MTC and for him to go to the other side of the world.

I have spoken to other missionary moms and no matter if they are going to the USA or any other place in the world, it is a little scary to know that your child will now be out in the world.  I have also spoken to returned missionaries and they told me that it was nice, but scary to be out of the MTC and out into the world.

I was nervous that my son was now going to out into the world and that he was going to be on the other side of it!  The thought that my “little boy” was going to out of the USA without me!  I was also excited because he was going to be able to call  me from the airport.

I looked forward all day to receive the phone call from my son.  I didn’t know exactly when he was going to call, so I was on standby all day. [continue reading…]

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I didn’t get home from Utah until Sunday, and when I did there was a letter waiting for me from my missionary!!!  I couldn’t wait to tare into it!  I had all kinds of thoughts go through my head like, “I hope he is telling me how much he loves it and NOT how he wishes he wasn’t there!”   I quickly skimmed through the letter just to see if  there was anything I needed to be concerned about, then I slowly, almost as if I didn’t want it to end, read the letter, my first from my missionary!

It was a sweet note he wrote on his first night just to let me know how his first day went. He did start out by saying that he was writing to let me know that he hadn’t ran away yet! Haha! He can be such a funny guy!  He said that he thinks he is really going to get along well with his companion, (relief to know!), that they had stake for their first meal, had already been taught in his new language, ( didn’t understand a word!),  had a meeting with all the missionaries where they sang The Army of Helaman song and instead of singing it ” We WILL be the Lord’s missionaries”, they sang “We ARE  the Lord’s missionaries!”  He said that brought tears to his eyes.

What a great relief and joy to know that all was going well, and he wasn’t begging to come home!  [continue reading…]

The drive back to Salt Lake wasn’t near has fun as the ride down!  I  ended up with a migraine, most likely from the stress of saying goodbye to my son, and trying not to run off the road through my tears!

Ok the tears did stop before we were out of Provo, but it was a quite ride back.  We stopped to get something to eat,because food is my comfort, and as we were parking I noticed that an hour had past since I had dropped off my son.  I made the comment, well one hour down, how many left?  It took us awhile to get the math all worked out , 17,530 more to go! ( Don’t ever count down your missionary’s time in hours, it will only depress you!)

I couldn’t help but think about what he was doing, how was his first hours going, does he have a cool companion??? Is he being a cool companion??   I was wishing he could just send a quick text letting me know that all is well!  It really is hard not knowing! [continue reading…]

6:00 AM February 12, 2013.  I wake up with the fact that I only have 31 more hours until I say goodbye to my son for two years!  I knew the day would go by fast,  but I just wanted to enjoy every last minute of it, and not waste any of it!

We still had some things we needed to get before he would be completely ready.  Things that we knew we could get in Utah that we couldn’t get in Colorado. Like short sleeve white shirts in February!  We had also put off getting his shoes until we could look at the places in Provo that would have shoes specific for missions.  So we needed to get going.

First, we had breakfast with my great aunt, who is an amazing lady who would be contributing to his mission, as she has done for so many other missionaries!  That ended up being a two hour breakfast!  It was a great time just visiting and eating!

Then off to Provo!  Of course I would have to take some wrong turns as we had done already on this trip, but we did make to Provo, and to the place we needed to be.  We were able to get his shirts and shoes and some other things and now he was ALREADY to go!

Another tear jerking moment came after that, time to say goodbye to grandma, and uncle (my mother, and brother).  [continue reading…]

After being set apart as a missionary, my son was now officially a missionary which meant he would have to live by the mission rules!  I was to be his first  “companion!”  That was just fine with me!

It was time for us to get on the road!  Time for him to say good- by to his dad.  That was the first of many tearful moments for me to come.  As we were driving away, I could see my husband standing at the kitchen window, and that brought tears to my eyes to know that he would not see his son for two years!  I could feel the love that a father had for his son! [continue reading…]