I thought I posted this on FRIDAY??? And apparently it was there for a minute??? I don’t know what’s going on with my blog, so you may have already seen this, if so, sorry! 🙂
February was a busy, busy month for us. But yet in so many ways was one of the best months for our family. A big factor? We were asked to serve as Mission Presidents/Mission Family for the youth in our Wards ‘Missionary Month’.
Of course, we were the Albania Tirana Mission, (and proud of it!).
The youth were given a companion and divided between six missions for the month, and the leaders put so much time, effort, sweat, tears, prayers and love into the month, it was an amazing month.
Our children were invited to participate and attend. And frankly, I was a tad bit worried about managing our children, and 12 youth for multiple activities. Anyone who has sat with my children for an extended amount of time knows that reverence, sitting still, listening and just ‘church’ in general is a difficult thing for them because of their ages and their personalities. I was worried about the balance of it all.
But as the month progressed full of wonderful activities, I was surprised and dare I say a tad bit shocked at how well they did. It was a little miracle, and a huge blessing. I was amazed at how much my little boys looked up to the ‘Elders’ and ‘Sisters’ in our mission. They were being watched, and their examples were being followed (for good and bad–Reverence and Not).
I was thrilled to have these experiences for our children (most of them wonderful, and the ones that were not, shall we say reverent, were good talking points for us with our children), and truthfully blessed our families lives more than I think the youths. I hope my boys remember this month.
It was a month was full of excitement and activities. (Tuesday Nights and Sundays were busy for us!) There were firesides, classes on learning how to cook, do laundry, writing letters, we did door approaches, had multiple dinner appointments (including an Albanian Feast),
the first discussion was taught, and we even taught them some Albanian (and we are singing it in our Sacrament Meeting on Sunday).
We pulled out Toph’s mission box, proudly displaying our Albanian Flag for the month, and Toph reveled in finding forgotten tokens of the past.
But the biggest surprise of all was the LOVE I felt for my missionaries. I worried about them, thought about them, and felt this connection for them that was TOTALLY UNEXPECTED. I loved them, like I didn’t think I would, and now look forward to future associations with them…and looking to the future wishing, hoping and praying they are seeking out only the best things in their life, at such a crucial age in their lives.
And at the end of the month, I was sad to see it end, but I was also left with alot of anticipation for the future missionaries in our lives, including Toph and I.