FAREWELLS ARE NOT EASY June 5, 2015

I could not sleep the night before we departed for South Africa.  How does one enter into slumber land when you know you are leaving so much behind and unsure about the future?  My heart was aching and so many emotions were flowing through me.  So at 8:15 a.m. I was ready to leave for the airport.  We arrived at 9:00 and the family had already gathered to bid us farewell.  There was so much to say but there seemed no words adequate to express my emotions.   We had done this 3 years prior, but I think it seemed harder this time for some reason.  Dennis and I are reading this book called “Safe Journey” by Glenn L. Pace and he had the same feelings as I did as he left for his mission to Africa…..”I often think how sad it would be if the heart didn’t ache during farewells.  If we don’t miss someone, do we really love them?  If we don’t long for the time we can all be together forever, what is the purpose of eternity?  We feel incomplete when we aren’t together….Nevertheless, we can’t wallow in homesickness, and one of the testimonies I have gained is that the Lord blesses us and allows us to function in spite of this temporary void.  He also blesses us with a finite amount of omnipresence while on this earth.  By this I mean that through the Spirit it is possible to feel of each other’s presence and “company” even while apart.  As the plane took off…..I felt both lonely and empty for the past and inadequate for the future.  And yet, with all these feelings of loss and with the pain of separation, we went willingly, desiring above all things to do the will of the Lord and to serve him in his kingdom—even in sacrifice.”  Beautifully worded…..So, we said good-bye to our family at 10:00 a.m. and boarded the plane to begin our second mission to South Africa at 11:00.

I am a blessed woman……..

“And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face.   I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.” 

D & C 84:88