Only one teen left....

Yesterday was Kade's 20th birthday.  I miss that kid!  Yes, I thought of him all day long.

I remember 20 years ago when he was in the NICU, a big 9 lb baby amongst the preemies.  He developed a respiratory infection sometime during his birth.  It took 4 days for them to figure out what was wrong and for him to finally be well enough to come home.  Holding him was difficult.  He had tubes and wires attached to his body and would rip the IV out of his arm, so they had to put it in his head.  Looking at him then, I never dreamed that 20 years later he would be a strong 6 ft 2 or 3 missionary.

Happy birthday Kade!!!

2 days until hump day for Destinee

I can't believe it has actually been almost 9 months since my kids left  their missions.  That means one thing--HUMP DAY for Destinee.  It will be Saturday.  Now the countdown begins.  I miss those kids, but I am so blessed to have one at home to keep me smiling.  I know it is where they should be, where I want them to be, and I sometimes wonder what life would have been like if they hadn't gone.  We would have progressed as far?  Would Destinee be heading towards marriage?  Would Kade be on the wrong path?  Thank goodness we will never know.

Getting closer to the Savior

In reading missionary blogs, I came across an account of Elder speaking at a Stake conference.  He spoke of his handicapped son asking if he and his wife knew Jesus.  He focused his talk on that subject.  He said there are4 ways to get closer to the Savior, to come to know Him, and base our life on Him.  They are:

1.  Seek the companionship of the Holy Ghost
2.  Nurture testimony of Christ by daily scripture study and meaningful prayer.
3.  Keep the commandments
4.  Follow the Prophet.

The missionary went on to say that 'he said something very interesting about following the prophet that I'm still trying to fathom. he said, "When we follow the prophet, we learn what is expected of us.'

Good Things to Come

BYU's Chris Collinsworth had angels on his left and right sides

Six months into his mission in Australia, Elder Chris Collinsworth was headed home with his companion, Elder David Ferguson, out about 18 months, after their last appointment of the day. The two were on what is called “splits” or "exchanges," working with someone who is not your regular companion.
It was about 8:45 p.m., and they thought nothing of the two men who approached. They even stepped off the sidewalk to let the men pass. As they did so, without provocation, one of the men reared back and landed a punch to Chris’ head that sent him reeling. When he struck a second blow, Chris, no slouch and currently a 6-foot-9 power forward on the BYU basketball team, fought back. The second stranger attacked Elder Ferguson. He used both his fists and a knife but fled in the face of Ferguson’s ferocious defense. Several other men quickly joined the attack on Chris, pulling his shirt over his head, driving him to the ground, and kicking and punching him.
The man with the knife returned to join the fray. Elder Ferguson sprang to pull attackers off Chris, taking his share of blows. One car approached, but the driver simply swerved to the other side of the road and drove on. A second car did the same. A third driver, a Sudanese refugee, pulled up, began to honk his horn, flash his lights and yell. The attackers finally fled.
The attack was well-covered in the media when it happened back in 2008. Chris sat in my office in December and related information about the attack that few have heard. When Chris was set apart and given a blessing, as all missionaries are, his stake president stated there would be a point in his mission when there would be “angels on your right hand and angels on your left hand protecting you.” A big, strong 19-year-old, Chris thought little of the promise at that time.
In Australia, once before with his regular companion, they were surrounded by a group of Middle Eastern emigrants who began pushing and shoving them. When one of them punched Chris, an older Middle Eastern man, observing from a bench, yelled at the young men to leave the missionaries alone, and they managed to escape harm. Afterward Chris asked his companion what he would do if attacked. He said he would run.
However, on this occasion, Chris was with Elder Ferguson who jumped to his defense. After the attackers fled, Chris described “blood everywhere.” Elder Ferguson’s hands were severely cut trying to fend off the knife attack. Chris explained, “It looked like the Blue Man Group only red everywhere.” Chris wrapped his tie around Elder Ferguson’s hand to help stop the bleeding, and when the ambulance arrived, he directed help to Elder Ferguson. He only rode in the ambulance so the two could stay together. However, at the hospital, trying to exit the ambulance, Chris collapsed, unable to walk. Taken inside in a wheelchair, he asked to use the phone to call the mission president. The nurses strangely refused. Then a “code red” went out over the loudspeaker, calling emergency room personnel to respond to a stab wound to the kidneys, a dangerous, life-threatening injury. Doctors and nurses left Elder Ferguson’s room and descended on Chris.
At some point in the melee he was stabbed in the back. In shock, with adrenalin flowing, his muscles tightened. Only after Chris had a shot of morphine did blood begin to flow from the puncture. When checked, miraculously, the knife missed his kidney by less than a centimeter. Chris was also able to make that call to his mission president. One of the paramedics was an LDS Church member who lent his cell phone, and when the mission president arrived blessings were administered. Chris estimated that for about 20 seconds his attackers were kicking him full force in the face and head. He stayed in the hospital overnight for observation, but left the next day with no bruises, no concussion, no lasting pain or injuries.
Meanwhile, a specialist was called to attend to Elder Ferguson’s wounds. Anticipating extensive damage to ligaments and tendons in his hands the doctor scheduled surgery the next day. In surgery he was amazed. There was no real damage to the ligaments or tendons, and Elder Ferguson was sewn up and able to recover on his own, although, as Chris explained, “He’s got way better scars. You can barely see mine.”
When the mission president returned, some days later, with the missionaries to the scene of the attack, he recounted to Chris the spiritual intuitions that accompanied the visit. He testified that during the attack “angels were on your left hand and on your right hand, watching over you.” Chris had never recounted to his mission president the blessing pronounced upon him when he was set apart.
So now you have, “the rest of the story.”  Author: Kristine Frederickson : LDS World

Happy Birthday Hermana Park

There are a few days of a Missionary Mom's life that are hard to bear.  First is the day we drop our kids off at the MTC.  It is one of the hardest days of our lives.  You think Kindergarten is hard?  Try dropping off your baby for two whole years!  The second day might be Christmas, but for me it is their birthdays.  Tomorrow will be the first birthday Destinee has spent away from home, and the first birthday I have missed being with her.

I have to think a little about the past 22 years.  Destinee was always preparing for a mission.  I have always said that there is some guy out there who is very lucky because whomever she marries will have the wife it takes to become a General Authority.  Behind every great man is an even greater woman.  Destinee has always done what is right.  She has always made good choices, and has always loved the Gospel.  She has always been worthy.  What a great example that young lady has been to me and others.

22 years ago I was in the hospital, urging her to come out and meet the world.  Just after midnight, at 12:28 am, she entered this world, determined to make it a better world.  What a glorious day that was!

Missionary Moment: I Really Miss My Mom

Missionary Moment: I Really Miss My Mom   By Mark Albright

This is a contribution from the files of President Mark Albright of the Washington DC South Mission. (It was published in Meridian Magazine)
It was a bitterly cold December day in 2009. Elder Curt Anderson, a missionary from the Washington DC stake who was serving in the Manchester England Mission, decided to go with his companion to the Bolton shopping district to try and find people to teach.  Busy with pre-Christmas holiday shopping, person after person passed by the two, but no one was willing to stop and listen to their message. Elder Anderson and his companion were getting very discouraged when Christine Rohkele, an African woman who had moved to England in 2004, rounded the corner and headed for a store. As the elders approached her, she gave them a glare that said, “I know you’re trying to sell me something–-but whatever it is, I’m not interested.”
As she brushed by them, Elder Anderson blurted out, “Well, can I just say one thing?” She stopped, turned to him and said impatiently, “I really don’t have time, but go on then.”
Now that he had her attention, thoughts quickly raced through Anderson’s mind of all the possible things he could say that might get her to listen for a few minutes. While she stood impatiently waiting, the words came to him and he suddenly blurted out: “I want you to know that I REALLY MISS MY MOM!”
All of a sudden, she stared intently at this young man and realized that, like her, he was far away from home. Before his eyes, the woman’s face transformed from agitated to emotional. She then explained that she hadn’t seen her own mother in more than 12 years because she had died in a car accident and, in spite of all the time that had passed, the memories of that were still really painful.
Elder Anderson then felt inspired to bear a personal witness to her of why he had left his own mother behind to come here to talk to people like her about the Plan of Salvation, the restoration of the gospel and the Book of Mormon, concluding with an invitation to attend Church the following Sunday.
To his surprise, when Sunday came, Christine walked into the chapel, followed by her two little boys, dressed in their Sunday best. After the service, the elders asked her how she had felt. She responded, enthusiastically, “I’m home. This is where I belong!” Baptized seven weeks later, she then began preparing to go to the temple. Because of the gospel, she knew that she would see her mother again.
Since then, Christine began raising her boys in the church and the oldest one was baptized. Church members helped her find a different job that allowed her to partake of the sacrament each week and still support her family. She has given the church many referrals that have been sent back to the missionaries in serving in her homeland in Africa.  She helps the sister missionaries in the ward fellowship people and plays an active role in the Relief Society each week. She is truly converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ–all because Elder Anderson felt inspired to share his honest, yet heartfelt longing for home.