Our mission to Paraguay began with a dream and commitment we had made when we first got married. Our goal has always been to serve a mission as a senior couple. In 2019, after our baby Carter graduated from high school we started earnestly praying and planning for the day Ken could retire and we could fill out our missionary recommendation papers and go.
The answers to our prayers were not at all what we expected. First we were inspired to start getting our house in Iowa ready to sell. Then in May of 2020 as the COVID19 pandemic was getting underway, Ken was offered a management position in Minnesota that allowed us to downsize our house and things, have zero debt and save more toward retirement. The move to Minnesota also helped prepare us for being away from our kids and grandkids, and how to move forward in our own personal revelation and our own understanding of gospel principles and church policy regardless of the circumstances that surround us. Heavenly Father and His Son want to bless each one of us within the details of our lives.
The thrill of opening a mission call is no less thrilling as a senior couple. We chose to keep it a family Zoom with our kids. Here is a photo of all the guesses of where we would be assigned.
This is the exciting text we received on Tuesday April 25, 2023 at 11:12 am and waited til Wednesday, April 26, 2023 at 7pm to open it with our kids. Even Elder Myers with permission was able to join us.
As you will see if you watch the video below of us reading our call and assignment, we are excited and confused about many things after reading our assignment but feel confident and peaceful we are going to the right place for our growth and to serve others.
The day after opening our call we heard from other senior missionaries who briefed us on what we will be doing generally and sent us all the contact information for those we will be serving with, doing our travel plans and helping with our visas.
It has been uplifting to talk with other missionaries and employees who want us to succeed. Each week I have an assigned tutor from the Mission Training Center who checks in on my Spanish studies. I am also exploring a language app available to all members of the Church called "Embark." The app is quite helpful and although I feel like I am drowning in information that can't be expressed in Spanish, I am progressing slowly. Each day in Spanish I sing a hymn, pray and read a verse from the Book of Mormon. The technology that is available on the church apps in Spanish makes finding things to practice so easy. One thing we have noticed as we prepare is that getting ready is quite expensive. Doctors, dentist, vision tests, and the paperwork for the visa was more than what we had expected. Timing of papers is important too and reading all the fine print (or the bold print). I ordered our apostille for our marriage certificates too early so we have to reorder them. The apostille process from ID wasn't expensive but the postage was in order to get it quickly. The other thing we had to keep track of was our immunizations. Some of them are time sensitive and you can't get them too early or overlap with others. This week we are going for our typhoid and yellow fever vaccines.
We have decluttered our house and are finishing up the basement. Planning our last goodbyes for a while and will be flying out in the wee hours of the morning on September 26 to Utah. We will enjoy friends, family and some temple work, catch the Sunday afternoon session of conference and head to the MTC on Monday morning October 2.
We are continually guided and directed by the Holy Ghost. It is the Lord's work and if we do it his way we will accomplish what we need to. Hurrah for Israel!
