Ever since my son was a little boy I would dream of the day I would take him to the MTC! (Missionary Training Center) in Provo, UT. I had gone with my mom when she took my brother many, many, many years ago, and thought it would be a wonderful experience to have with my own son one day. Well, since then they have changed the way you drop of your missionary at the MTC and they have other MTCs around the world that your missionary may be sent to, so you can be just dropping them off at the airport. I have to admit that I really wanted to still take him to Provo, even if it meant just dropping him off at the curb! I don’t know why that was so important to me, it just was!
When my son received his call I was excited to see that he would be reporting to the Provo MTC! I knew that they had changed the way you drop off your missionary since the time I had gone with my brother, but I still was excited to go! [continue reading…]
The thing that every mother, and I would add father is excited for; calls home or being able to Skype with your missionary! Isn’t technology awesome!
My first phone call from my missionary came when was leaving the MTC on his way to the mission field. He was able to buy a phone card at the MTC and call me from the airport for a very brief time! I was just glad to hear his voice even if it was just for a little bit after not being able to really talk to him for six weeks! It was amazing to hear the excitement, and joy in his voice to be finally on his way to the field! I had been able to communicate with him through email, of course, but it isn’t as good has being able to hear his voice!
For me the next call came only six weeks later when it was Mother’s Day! He did have the option to skype or just call. The computers where he was, really weren’t good for skypping so he called. Now everywhere, and every mission president is different, so just because your friend’s missionary got to skype, doesn’t mean yours will. Also some mission presidents put time limits on the time you can talk or skype, so be prepared for that.
My son’s mission president uses Facebook, which I love! He is always posting pictures and updates! He always posts the rules for calling and skyping when Mother’s Day and Christmas come around. Whatever the time limit may be you should be a good example of being obedient and stick to the time limit if there is one! Sticking to the time limit is hard,but we do want what is best for our missionaries. [continue reading…]
It is amazing the amount of blessings that come as soon as your missionary accepts their call! One of the best advice I received was from my best friend, and I am going to share it with you. You will be wise to do this! As soon as your missionary accepts their call, get a notebook, or a journal, just something to keep track of all the blessings that come!Â
I am so grateful for this advice, for one thing it is a wonderful way to see how many blessings come and a great way to show your Heavenly Father how grateful you are for those blessings. It will also be an amazing thing to give your returned missionary!Â
As you start to keep track of the blessings, your eyes will be opened and you will be able tosee things you probably wouldn’t have noticed. You will be able to see your Heavenly Father’s hand in all things! [continue reading…]
Getting ready to send your child( yes I said child, because as all mothers know, no matter how old they are they will always be your child!) off for one and half to two years can be a very daunting thought and it can get very overwhelming.
The church has made it a little easier by sending the “great book of information”.  FOLLOW WHAT IT SAYS! I am always amazed that there are some that questioned what it says, like their child is the first missionary the church has ever sent!
I have mentioned this in one of my earlier posts, I think it is good repeat. I read and reread the book to make sure I didn’t miss anything and it really was so funny, or not, that I would find something new I hadn’t noticed in the the last 20 times I read it, ok maybe not 20, but many times I had read it before.  It really did help me to make lists and be able to check them off. [continue reading…]
How wonderful is it to be able to go the temple with your child!
I had been to the temple several times, and saw mothers and fathers with their soon to be missionaries, and had dreamed about the day I would be able to do that. That day for me came on January 12, 2013.  Since we live in Colorado and it was January, it was a very cold day! some of you may of remembered it because it was also the day the Denver Broncos lost the playoff game to the Ravens in double overtime, and everyone kept talking about Peyton Manning not being able to play in such cold weather… sorry to those who don’t like football. Anyway let’s just say it was very cold, but it was one of the most wonderful days of my life!
For us the temple is an 80 mile drive, and even though we were expecting a lot of people at the temple it was just me and my son in the car on the drive down. What a wonderful memory for me and one I will be always grateful for.  [continue reading…]
We had the elders over for dinner the other night and we were talking about some of their experiences they have had while they have been out in the field. I of course love hearing their stories.
One thing that has come up before with other elders, that I was shocked and AMAZED to hear was that there have been some elders that have been sent on their missions without knowing how to ride a bike!!!!! I can’t believe that anyone would be ok sending a son on their mission without teaching them to ride a bike! I know of at least two in just the last few months!
I think that a part of preparing our children to serve missions should be the physical part! Yes, the spiritual preparation is very important, but they need to be able to go forth and teach, and sometimes that can require 20-30 mile bike rides, 5-8 miles of walking up and down mountains! [continue reading…]
Funny story. I don’t know how this happened, but my son had not been ordained to Elder before he received his mission call! I didn’t realize this until I was scheduling the temple for his first time! This is where it got kind of fun, and once again got to see that if our Heavenly Father wants something to be done it will be done! We only had a very small window of time for him to be able to go to the temple, because the temple was going to be closed for cleaning for two weeks. The stake president had told my son that he should go to the temple as soon as he could after he received his call, and to go as often as he could until he left for his mission. Ok, so we wanted him to go before the temple closed so that he could have the time after it opened to go a couple of more times before he left. That’s where the “fun†came in. In order for him to go to the temple before it closed he had to be interviewed by the bishop and someone form the stake presidency so he could be ordained an Elder. Ordained an elder. Then be interviewed again by the bishop and member of the stake presidency for his temple recommend all in less than a week! [continue reading…]
The Philippines, where exactly are they? Thank goodness for Google maps!   I think that is what everyone does right after they read their call. Look at a map and see where it is they are going to be serving.
The next thing was to realize, oh by the way, he needed to get a passport! Don’t those usually take longer than six weeks to get back? Then came the visa application. In order to make sure he could report to the MTC on February 13 he had to have his passport and the visa app back to Salt Lake in just 10 days! What! Is that even possible? My son didn’t want to postpone his mission any longer so we had to find a way to get it done! We went to our local government office to get his passport and told them that we needed it back in less than ten days. They couldn’t do it at that office but there was an office only about 60 miles away where we could get it back in only 3 days but it was going to cost around $200! We knew that we had to do that. We should of listen to our bishop and got the passport when he suggested back when he first interviewed my son for the mission papers! Oh well, no time for that now.  This is something I think I would suggest to do. Just go ahead and get the passport that way you won’t have to pay so much. If they don’t need it for their mission it is still good for ten years.
We made the 60 mile drive twice in one week. Once to turn in the application and picture for the passport and then to pick it up three days later, yes it can be done if you have the money.   The only reason why we had the money was because we were blessed with people who wanted to help in any way they could and gave my son money for his mission. This is when I learned that, yes it takes a lot of money for missions, but our Heavenly Father will always provide a way for His work to be done!
Dear Elder you are hereby called serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  You have been called to labor in the Philippines, Bacolod mission. You should you report to the Provo MTC on February 13, 2013.
My mind started to race, the Philippines, and February 13th?! That is only six weeks away! There was so much to think about and things had to get going to get him ready to go to the other side of the world in just six short weeks! After he was done with all of the congratulations and hugs, I found him out in the car freaking out! He had no idea where the Philippines are and he was going to be gone in just six weeks! I was a bit freaked out too! I can’t tell you how many times I reread that white book with all the instructions in it! It was almost like reading the Book of Mormon, every time I would read it I would get something new how of it! I would realize something else that we needed to get done in just six weeks! Did I mention we only had six weeks! [continue reading…]
Ok we have all been there, no one loves the mailman more than someone waiting for a mission call! The excitement you feel when you open the mailbox and see that big white envelope only to see it is from someone trying to sell life insurance! (Using big white envelopes should be out lawed for anything but mission calls!)
My son’s call came on the Friday afternoon between Christmas and New Year’s. He was working so I was the one who noticed that the mailman had a big white envelope in his hand and as soon as he left I could get out there fast enough to see if it was the call or something else! There is something very amazing to see your son’s name with the title Elder in front of it for the first time! This made me realize this is for real! No turning back now, well he could, but most likely wasn’t going to. [continue reading…]
