I am excited to announce that Mom and Dad are officially waiting for their second Call to Serve as full-time missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! We anticipate their big white mission packet envelope will be arriving any day now … within the next two weeks.
It will look like this…
… and it will reveal their mission location, duties, departure date, packing lists, and several other important instructions.
Their assignment will have been made one of the (currently ten) apostles of the Church, and their mission call letter will be signed by our new prophet President Russell M. Nelson.
On The Lord’s Errand
“Stop worrying that you are going to have to knock on doors or keep the same schedule as the 19-year-olds! We don’t ask you to do that, but we have a host of other things you can do, with a great deal of latitude in how you do them.”
There are so many different places, assignments and needs in the world for Senior Missionaries!
There are endless options for senior missionaries – and they are allowed the opportunity to make special requests for where they will go, and what kind of mission they would like to serve. They also choose how long they will serve: 6, 12, 18 or 23 months.
Mom and Dad have specifically requested to serve for 12 months and to stay within the United States. They have listed their top request is to work in a mission office conducting the administrative needs for a mission – like they did last time – because they absolutely loved and thrived with that kind of assignment. Beyond that, the specific location, mission, and duties they will actually be called to perform are all a mystery right now.
The anticipation is very exciting!!
LOOKING BACK
What greater gift could grandparents give their posterity than to say by deed as well as word, “In this family we serve missions!”
On Wednesday May 23, 2013 Mom and Dad opened their mission call to serve in the California Santa Rosa Mission. They entered the Provo MTC for a two-week training on Monday July 1, 2013. Originally called to serve for 18 months, due to the love of their mission and the senior missionary shortage crises they extended to the maximum time allowed of 23 months, returning home in June 2015.
Mom and Dad have been a remarkable example of putting God first, and their mission service has blessed so many lives – including their own, and our entire family.
LOOKING FORWARD
“Let’s lengthen our shuffle!”
The second time around my parents and our family enjoy several advantages.
- We know what to expect
- We know how happy they are when they are set apart as the Lord’s missionaries and get to have an extra helping of the Spirit of Christ with them each day as His representatives.
- We know how blessed our family will be while they are serving.
- We know how blessed Mom & Dad will be while they are serving.
- We know they can come home as needed for special events – baptisms, weddings, funerals, etc. (during their previous mission they returned at their own expense several times for brief visits)
- We know we can go visit them if we want!
When my parents left home in 2013 I was very proud of them and happy they were willing and able to serve, but I still cried thinking how long that 18 months would feel.
Flash forward a few months and I was overjoyed when they chose to extend 5 additional months, and when their mission had to come to an end, I sobbed. We received so many blessings during their mission service and I didn’t want to give those up!
For all of these reasons – and more – I am thrilled that my parents have chosen to embark in full-time service to our Savior again. I know they will bless thousands of lives – including my own. Thank you, Mom and Dad!
– Love, Holly
COUPLES, YOU ARE NEEDED! YOU HAVE SO MANY OPTIONS! … Plus, YOU GET PERKS!! 😉
“We need THOUSANDS of more couples serving in the missions of the Church! Every mission president pleads for them. Everywhere they serve, our couples bring a maturity to the work that no number of 19-year-olds, however good they are, can provide. …
Our message to all of our mature couples is simple: we dearly need you. We are doing everything we can to make it as convenient as possible for you to go. … The times cry out for it. There are people who need YOU. Please—go!”
♥ – Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
****Quotes included in this post are from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles October 2011 General Conference Talk We Are All Enlisted.****
Latter-day Soprano 
Congratulations!
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This was so fun to read. I loved the pictures- all of them- That and your great writing skills are fun to read. Love you
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