Keeping up with the Joneses: September 2010

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Mission missives

Monday is a grand day!
I know, most people spend the weekend in mortal fear and trembling, dreading that ever looming day known as
MONDAY!
Back to work
Back to school
Regular workouts
Up before the sun
Yes, it is all of those things.
But it is also "P Day".
I can hear some of you asking "Suzee, what is "P Day?"
In the land of "Full Time Missionary Service" there is a lovely day of the week. It is the one day where missionaries do not need to put on their white shirt and tie. They get to dress as regular people and commence in the activities of regular people. Yes these activities are still limited. But they do have the time to clean their apartment, shop for groceries, play a little basketball if they want. Most importantly, this is the day they head off to the local library, Internet cafe, or whatever and write home!
Yes, this is a day we moms look forward to with much anticipation. (I imagine there are quite a few cute girls out there who also approach this day with same level of anticipation, albeit for only slightly different reasons.)
How I enjoy those letters. Glad to know that my son is safe, that he is working hard, that he his growing and learning from the trials he faces.
The best part is those small quips thrown in his letters.
Those little things that make me smile and sometimes even laugh out loud!
They are the little bits that remind me of his sense of humor,
his very quick wit!
Now that I have piqued your curiosity, let me share a few of them with you.

"On Thursday night we had exchanges with the ward. I ended up going with the High Priest group leader to one of his home teaching families to give a blessing. It was in a little town about 30 min from Kokomo so that was about all we got to do. We ended up back at the church 15 min before Elder _____ got back so we were talking and he told me that it was his opinion that our time would be best spent in trying to re-activate the inactives of the ward. I just said ok rather than tell him that that was his job."

"Our ward here loves the missionaries and loves to feed them and buy them anything they need but they aren't so big into missionary work. A few weeks ago the ward mission leader wanted to get splits on Thurs nights going again. He asked if anyone was available and willing to go with us during priesthood opening exercises and all of a sudden there were some really cool patterns to look at on the floor and it was dead quiet."

"I bought some arch supports last week at Walmart (Elder _____needed stuff for athletes foot, I don't think he changes his socks enough). They were only like $4 and its been a really awesome use of $4 so far."

"We met a baptist youth minister while tracting on Sat. He invited us in and basically bashed us for 10 min. They always say they want to have a discussion but they never let you explain your beliefs or how what they say or believe about us is wrong. In the next life I will find him and teach him the truth. When people let you in while tracting there are usually 2 reasons. The fist is so they can bash and tell you that you are going to Hell the second is when its an old person or couple who are lonely and let you in to talk for a little while. We got that on Sat. afternoon as well. It was funny to get both on the same day."

"Elder _____ got another flat tire on Sat. This is 2 in one week. Luckily we had to walk only a mile to the car. We met a crazy guy on they way. His religious views are kinda strange but it was funny seeing Elder _____ try and talk with him. I saw he was crazy about 2 sec after he started talking. It took Elder _____5 min to cut bait and say goodbye/get out of there."

"I don't think I told you this but 2 weeks ago we had our district meeting in Logansport. The night before I was talking to our district leader about how to get there with the least amount of miles. He asked me if I know where Big Daddy's is (topless bar). I started cracking up laughing and asked if it was wrong if I said yes. He was using the bar to reference a diagonal road that leaves town and connects to a highway to Logansport. He didn't know the name of the road but the bar is pretty big and hard to miss. It was really funny though."

"We finally bought a fly swatter last week (we have lots of gnats and baby flys). My kill count is pretty high..."

This is a pretty fair representation of the kinds of things I'm talking about.
I do believe that with 1 year and 8 months to go there will be many more, which will lead to future mission missive posts!
What joy!
I am sure you will sit in eager anticipation as you await those posts.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Mission Marriage & More

Things have been pretty crazy around here! No I did not fall of the face of the earth, though at times these past few months I might have wished that I had.
For starters my second born and number one baby boy received his mission call!

Here he is preparing to open his call.

You are hereby called to serve in the....

Indianapolis, Indiana Mission

Reporting to the Provo MTC on May 26th.

We were all very excited for him. This meant lots and lots to do! Extra immunizations, multiple shopping trips, and the Temple!

Here he is with his siblings, grandma, and wait...

who is the extra guy in this picture?

Somewhere in the process of preparing for our missionary to leave my oldest daughter got ENGAGED! The two of them started with ideas for a fall wedding but somehow that date kept moving up. It became the end of Aug. Ultimately being moved for a final time and scheduled for the 23rd of July!

My wonderful hubby worried about the mission taking a back seat to wedding plans and so insisted that I NOT do ANY wedding planning until we returned from dropping our son at the MTC. I did insist on completing one task right away! We bought a wedding gown. Please! Can you imagine trying to find a dress and worry about alterations with less than 2 months to spare?

So we swapped vehicles with my mother in law (is she great or what) to insure we had plenty of leg room, piled the majority of the family in, and headed off to UT.

We had a great time, visiting Temple Square in Salt Lake, seeing family and some of our bestest friends!

Then the day arrived. I tried to be brave.

I tried to be strong.

I willed myself not to cry.

Ha! We parked across the street so we could get a picture in front of the sign. A very nice man who was directing the flow of families informed me of the number of missionaries reporting that day (it was a lot! Drawing a blank right now...) and then said to me "Mom, thank you for loaning us your son." Whew! I about lost it then.

Hang tough.

Photo op with the family, minus #1 baby girl.

My super handsome missionary!

We walked back to the car to say our goodbyes before driving through the loop.

Well, you know what they say about good intentions...

Yes,I cried.

Even now, writing about this, I want to cry all over again!

I miss him terribly!

But he is exactly where I want him to be! And more importantly he is doing our Father's work and it is where He wants him to be. So I gladly relinquish him for next 2 years, knowing the great man he will be when he returns home!

Speaking of returning home..

Can you say BUSY?

Oh yes I was!

Plan, plan, plan.

Design, and plan some more!