We celebrated being with our kids and grandkids one last time, meeting in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. It was sweet to be with them for a few days, enjoying hiking, rafting, biking, swimming and laughing. We celebrated the three years of birthdays that we will miss with a big Un-Birthday party. So wonderful to be together as family! We are grateful for their love and support! We said our last tender goodbyes this past week, including to our parents, recognizing it’s possible some of them may not be here when we return.
On June 22, Nancy and I were set apart as mission leaders (authorized for our assignment through a priesthood blessing) by Elder Quentin Cook, before heading to the Mission Training Center in Provo, Utah.
We spent four amazing days with other mission leaders, being instructed and taught by the entire Quorum of the Twelve and the First Presidency, as well as other Church leaders. We were fortunate to visit with many of them over meals and between the sessions. We feel they are simply some of the finest people we know. The impressions we had as we listened and learned were deeply personal and reassuring, especially as we are heading to a remote part of the world. Many of the Church leaders we met with have visited Liberia or served in West Africa. They wish they could go back with us! They shared story after story about the people there – how good they are, how happy they are and how filled with faith, even with the toughest living circumstances.
Of the 400 missions around the world, the Church rotates the leadership every three years. This year in our group there were 168 mission leader couples being trained from 27 countries and going out to 55 nations. We met many, many people we had connections with directly or through family, from all over the globe. In training, we learned much about not only our roles and responsibilities but about the doctrine as it applies to this work and about the purpose of the Church. We feel both charged and changed. It was a highlight at the conclusion to be with President Nelson and the apostles for sacrament meeting on Sunday. How grateful we are to be members of the Church and have this focus in our lives.
After getting our final medications for typhoid and malaria, and packing our many bags, we headed to the airport. We are flying through Chicago, Brussels, Freetown, and then onto Monrovia! We feel ready for this assignment — perhaps a bit naïve in some ways but confident in our purpose.
This is also a special day as we remember our 17 year old son, Clayton, who coincidentally passed away thirteen years ago. We trust he’ll be on this journey with us from the other side.
Oh, your update brought me to tears! God with be you in your every moment!
God be with you till we meet again! He will “put His arms unfailing round you“! Love you all so much. You are in my prayers!! You will do great!! Have so much funnn !!