Mission Reunion

Last Thursday we had our Mission Reunion. It is always so wonderful to have our missionaries come to our home and visit with us! I felt very humble to have so many of them tell me that they are praying for me. In fact, one sister said that she wanted her children to meet me so they would know who they were praying for each day.

Rich has always wanted to be a mission president. He would mention it to me years ago and I would say, "I don't have a desire to do that, it either means leaving my children or grandchildren or both!" But the Lord softened my heart. He placed in my heart the year 2001. I told Rich this about a year before our call, and he said he thought that was too soon. So when we were called to President Packer's office in December of 2000, Rich just said "it's happening." And so we went to Daejeon in 2001.

And now I'm so grateful that we did! The wonderful experiences we had and people we met will be a treasure for eternity. And we have all these wonderful missionaries who fasted and prayed for me. I really believe that the researchers at Northwestern University who made the breakthrough discovery of the cause of ALS were inspired by the many missionaries who fasted and prayed for me. Don't get me wrong; it's not about me, but the faith and prayers of missionaries who gave their all for the Lord for two years and learned a most difficult language so that they could teach the people of Korea.

If we hadn't been called early in our lives, perhaps we wouldn't have been able to serve as mission president now that I have this disease. God has a plan!

So at this mission reunion I am especially thankful that we were able to serve and have all our missionaries as eternal friends.

I couldn't have done it without Jenny! She's my personal assistant. On Tuesday she helped me clean the house. On Thursday she made six boxes of brownie/cookies. She stayed and clean up after it was done. She's awesome to help me so much as I don't have quite the energy I used to.