A New Mission!

Tom was released as Bishop of the Mountain Home Ward in the West Plains, MO stake in September.  That freed us to put in new mission papers. Of course there are many opportunities to serve locally.  But we thought we had the health and the means to be of service in places were there may not be a lot of members.

By November 20th we had filled out forms, completed the health and dental exams and had been interviewed by our bishop and stake president.  The button was pushed to send the forms on to Salt Lake City.  We waited in anticipation.  Our understanding was that it would take 5-6 weeks to get the call.

About the time Tom was released, we'd gotten an email from dear friends who had served with us in the Kenya Nairobi Mission.  They were now in the Adriatic North Mission and were urging senior couples to come to their mission. We thought about it, but also wanted to go where the Lord wanted us to go.  As we progressed, we came to realized it was okay to request a place to serve.  And Tom felt prompted we should send them an email saying we would be willing to serve in the Adriatic North Mission if they wanted us.

We immediately got an email from them and the mission president inviting us to call him. We did and had a delightful conversation with President Melonakos and his wife. They requested us and we requested this mission.  But we also understood that the Lord was ultimately in charge of where it was best for us to go.

My sister, Susan said, "You'll go to that mission if the mission president requested you.  The Lord loves his mission presidents."

In the mean time, we pondered what we would do with our home. The ward member who is keeping cows on our property asked us what we planned to do. "Find a house sitter."  He suggested his parents might be interested in coming to Mountain Home and might be good tenants.  What a god-sent solution.  It looks like they will be delightful people to stay in our house.  They are willing to care for our chickens and outdoor cats... and even garden (and hopefully keep the weeds from taking over.)

On December 18th, we got the white envelope.  We had arranged to skype our kids the evening the envelope came to open it and share our mission call with them. We ended up with 4 on Skype and two on two different phones... we even got Rebecca in Okinawa on the line.  We were thrilled to be called to the Adriatic North Mission.

A few minutes later, Adam messaged.... did we miss it? Akkk! In all the excitement, we didn't realize we'd missed him!  What bad parents!  So we skyped and announced the news to him and his family. (The six we initially connected with included one husband away from home.)

So now we are looking at clothing to pack, last visits to see my Mom and Adam's family on the west coast, and all the details of things to finish up before we report to the MTC probably March 12th.