Sunday, March 4, 2018
This has been such a
bitter-sweet day. We have ended another
chapter in our lives, one that has left us with precious experiences, and
forever friends. Sacrament Meeting was
our only meeting today, and I finally gathered enough courage to get on my feet
and walk, cane in hand, to the pulpit and bear my testimony. It took the whole meeting to gather that
courage—I was the last one. But it was
short and sweet, if a little teary. Everyone
gathered afterward for a group photo and more goodbyes. Most of the missionaries will be leaving
tomorrow although some are sight-seeing with family for a few days, and a half
dozen will be leaving during the week for other assignments to finish out the
last six months of their missions.
It has been an
incredible blessing to serve in this temple and to be in the Lord’s house every
day learning how to discern the promptings of the Spirit and see others as Heavenly
Father sees His children. When you come
from Idaho, a person doesn’t have the opportunity to learn to appreciate the
great diversity that exists in our country.
This city is such a melting pot of cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds,
experiences, and length of time spent as members of the Church. Our hearts have been opened and expanded with
greater love and understanding.
We have been packing,
weighing luggage, repacking, re-weighing, and still my bags are a little over
the weight limit. I’ll just have to have
the most disposable items on the very top and toss them one by one until the
scale meets it’s allowed poundage! Glade’s
things all fit just fine in one large bag and one carry-on size, but I have way
too much “good stuff” to stuff in mine, even with an extra bag.
Last night I worked
side by side with Sister Martinez on the Spanish veils and loved every minute
of the experience. I invited her to come
to our apartment today to see if she could use or would want any of the things
we have collected and have to leave behind.
She came today at noon with her
daughter Joselyn—the young girl I tutored on the organ and who just turned 13
on the week-end. The first bag I showed
her was filled with the Christmas garland, poinsettias, and lights that
decorated our china hutch, and she was ecstatic! She had seen them when she stopped by with
food when I first broke my ankle. I was
so happy that she was so happy!
She also took an array
of other things in half a dozen bags including my little Begonia plant, a new
lap quilt and pillow, a few groceries, and left only a small can of pumpkin and
a package of white chocolate chips.
Latin Americans must not eat much pumpkin. We looked for it in Honduras and had to explain
to the grocer exactly what it was and that it came in a can as well as fresh on
the stem! 😊 They
special-ordered it for us and actually stocked it during the holidays the
second year we were there.
I was so happy to share
with her and her family. Her husband is
the one who fell on the job and is now disabled enough that he can’t work. But he has finally started coming back to Sacrament
Meeting after a long absence from church and Sister Martinez feels her prayers
for him are being answered.
Our flight out of DC is
scheduled to leave at 4:40 p.m. tomorrow, and we are already checked in with the flight
status showing “on time” for which we are grateful after all the closures on
Friday and Saturday. We arrive in SLC
about 7:40-ish and hope the snow has melted enough for a safe landing! Would love your prayers for a safe flight!
Good Night, Everyone! Love you all so much! 😊
Here's one last photo of our beautiful temple. It's the one on your puzzles.
Sorry you couldn't bring your Christmas Garland home, but I'm glad you gave it to your friend. :) I'm proud of you for bearing your testimony!! Can't wait to see you!!
ReplyDeleteGood job finishing up another mission! Travel safe.
ReplyDeleteNice post mom, thanks for keeping that up and going again. When do you think you'll submit papers for your next mission?
ReplyDelete