5 years ago, almost to the date, I stepped on a plane to fly home from serving 18 months on an LDS mission. I had a long flight ahead of me so I figured I'd use the time to let go of the mission. My heart was definitely wanting to stay there with the people I'd come to love. But my feet were ready to find new adventures.
The last letter that I sent home was a cute little letter mentioning a lot of mission specific things that I'd be custom to now that I'd lived among a different culture. To tell you the truth, they were all pretty spot on. It seems as if I still can't find the right english word sometimes and sometimes things are better expressed in my mission language. This happens a lot when I talk about my mission, I revert to speaking a different language, how funny is that?
I constantly think, pray for, and worry about the people that I taught. Whether or not they ended up becoming a member of the LDS faith or not, I still think about them. I still worry about their lives and the paths they are taking. It almost feels like a parent/child relationship. As Joseph Smith said, "I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves."
Luckily my husband also served a mission very similar to mine so we share a lot of the same feelings for the people we served. So here's a recap since we've been home:
We met the first week I came home from the mission and were married just a year later. I worked for a bank while Brian finished up his studies at a university. We've lived in 3 different homes in two states and have traveled to new places and seen many wonderful things. We have a soft spot for Newport, RI and hope to travel back there often.
My husband and I will shortly be the parents of two wonderful little girls. One is already around and the other is on the way. We feel blessed to have the opportunity to raise children during our lives. Children can be a handful and one child is enough to keep you spinning all day, two is going to be exhausting. I really don't know how people have 5+ children, they must sleep well at night after chasing them around all day!
My husband graduated from university and has a very successful career in his field. I am a stay at home mom/photographer/blogger/aspiring pastry chef! There's a long list of things I guess I aspire to be and as long as I can get things accomplished during the day I feel good. Contrary to recent news articles, my children have helped me be happier in life. Her smiles help me smile and her laughter keeps me going. ]=[
We bought a house, rather blindly as to location/people/logistics but that "blind" decision has really made all the difference. Our home has kept us safe and warm through hurricanes, record breaking snows, earthquakes and recording setting heat. Now if it were only that impervious to crickets and spiders! The people that we've met have been wonderful and we're lucky to have such good friends.
Our families are diverse, some are members of the LDS faith and some are not. My husband, father and mother all converted to the faith when they were teenagers. Their courage and strength to move forward in faith different from what they were raised in humbles me and strengthens my faith as well.
That's a very readers digest of the last 5 years and we're hoping that the next 5 come with just as many blessings and surprises!
