We have been living in Arizona for a little over two years,
and yet the first time I felt the need to meet with a doctor was when Kim and I
had resolved to submit our papers for serving as fulltime missionaries for our
church. A part of that paperwork included a medical examination.
I was reminded this last week that this first doctor’s visit
was in January of 2015. My immediate thought was, “Really? We’ve been working
on this for 9 months? Why aren’t we any
further along than we are?”
Just yesterday when someone asked how my mission
preparations were going I told them that while our report date was charging
towards us with the speed of a famished cheetah, our preparations were
progressing like a three toed sloth.”
That it has taken us nine months to get this blog off the ground is an
example of our seeming plodding pace.Now that the Blog is established, let’s get you some solid info.
On August 3rd we received a large white envelope from church headquarters in Salt Lake City. Among other things it said, “You are hereby called to serve as missionaries for the Church of Latter-day Saints to labor in the Sweden Stockholm Mission to labor in the single adult program.” We have been called to serve for 18 months beginning in late November.
`Kim says that I am over the moon with excitement because I
am returning to the land where, exactly forty years ago, I spent two years
serving as a proselyting missionary.
A big part of our preparation is in familiarizing ourselves with
the language. Much of what I learned
forty years ago is coming back to me somewhat unevenly. Kim, on the other hand,
is starting from almost square one. We
each skype twice a week with the Church’s Missionary Training Center in
Utah. Kim is amazing them with the zeal
she displays in her studies.
Every Sunday morning we attend Missionary Preparation
lessons.
We’ve been updating passports, and medical vaccinations and
preparing to pack up our house.
All of our children will join us in early October for a final
get together before we leave.
Kim’s last day of work is September 30, and mine is October
14. After that we hope to see our preparations snowballing.
Daily we feel the blessings of this opportunity and hope to
share much of that through this blog over the next year and a half.