Called to Serve

I am having awesome experience overload and need to process some.  Let's start at the very beginning (a very good place to start).

Last summer, we had been home from Peru about 6 weeks when the phone rang and Lonny answered it in the kitchen.  He turned to me and said Elder Oaks' secretary would like to know if we could Skype with him some time?  We knew enough current and former mission president families to understand what he probably wanted to talk about.  Emily fell on the couch laughing.

We Skyped later that week on August 17th.  Elder Dallin H. Oaks confirmed they were exploring the possibility of us being called as mission president and wife.  He asked us some questions and said they might get back to us.

Two weeks later as we were just driving home from UT, President Dieter F. Utchdorf's secretary called and asked if we could Skype with him.  We had just left Emily at BYU so this time she wouldn't know about the phone call.  On September 2nd, President Utchdorf called Lonny to be a Mission President of a Spanish speaking mission and I to be his companion.  Later we were sent a list of 60 Spanish speaking missions that would need new mission president's in July 2016.  Seven of those missions were in the United States.  The church had asked as part of the information gathering process where our children lived.  One of the missions was AZ Mesa which we eliminated as a possibility because Geoff and Alayna lived in Mesa.

We were told not to share our mission call until we received a letter from the First Presidency.  Although the letter arrived that first week in September we were uncomfortable telling even our families until General Conference weekend in October.  When it was announced at Lonny's 30 year BYU law school reunion we knew we had to at least tell our moms.

In December we received a FedEx letter with our official call to our mission.  It sat unopened in the living room for a while when Lonny gave up waiting for the right moment.  I know my first words were "are you kidding me?"  We had expected to return to a Spanish speaking country.  Mesa for me was a blessing I never anticipated.

This past year has been a whirlwind of moving back to the USA , trying to unwind all while preparing to leave our home again for three years and learning the boatload of responsibilities required of mission president and wife.  The church's instruction for their new mission presidents has been rigorous and intense.

Jenny and Jonathan hosted a party for us the night before we entered the MTC.  Jonathan arranged for the ice sculpture, of course.

We invited our friends in UT and had a wonderful time catching up with family and friends from OK, WA, and UT.

Alayna made the delicious Arizona cake

and the cactus cookies.

Wednesday morning we went to the Church Office Building to be set apart by Elder Quinton L. Cook and Elder Lynn G. Robbins.  We loved having all of our children there as well as our parents.  Elder Cook has impeccable timing when telling a joke and the photo captures our reaction.  I will never forget this special occasion.

We were at the church office building at the same time as the Dalai Lama and his police motorcade.  Eric and my parents saw him and Elder D. Todd Christofferson in the parking garage as he left.

We took one last photo with the grandchildren before leaving for the MTC.  We won't be able to visit their homes but we are closer now than from our WA home.