We have been asked by some, especially friends who are not members of our church, why we chose to serve those we do not yet know. It's a fair question. We now live 7,647 miles (12,307 km) from our home. Although our house is a two and one half hour drive from our nearest child, and ten hours from our child who lives farthest away, it is close enough so we can be involved in their lives on a regular basis. It is tough being so far away now. So why did we make this choice? As strange as it may sound, the people in the picture below are one big reason why -
Our family 💖
When Craig retired in February of this year he wondered what he would do with all his spare time. Neither of us can sit around and do nothing for too long. It is nice to be able to do it occasionally, but we have a lot of days ahead of us still. We have known too many people whose health goes down very fast after retiring, Craig's father is one of them. He retired in March 1985 and passed away from cancer June 1988. My father did not get a chance to retire before he contracted cancer and passed away in June 1987.
Our children were too young to get to know our fathers, and that makes us sad. They were good and loving men and their lives were too short. Knowing that illnesses are affected to a great extent by our mental health, we are trying our best to stay physically healthy by keeping positive, busy, and serving those around us.
Our children all have families and are busy with their children and work. We love spending time with them and serving them, and they have their lives and we respect that. While we are still healthy and energetic enough we wanted to make a small difference to some people who have greater needs than us. There are many with such needs in the world, and we are fortunate to have been called to serve the physical and educational needs of the wonderful people here in Laos.
Keeping busy by serving our brothers and sisters here helps keep our brains active and our priorities straight. Life is not all about us, but about growing by filling our brains with new and good things, relationships, and serving others. It seems simple, but it is not always easy to figure out how without making some changes in our lives. We will hopefully be able to continue learning and serving after we return home.
The gospel of Jesus Christ brought Craig and me together, it is the reason we have our children, and has brought us many other blessings. Heavenly Father has been very good to us and although we can never repay Him for what we have been given, we want to do what we can to show our gratitude. Family has sacrificed much for us to have the gospel and beautiful lives. After converting to our faith, Craig's ancestors came by boat from Europe, were persecuted for their new faith, and walked across uncharted America in sweltering heat as well as bone chilling cold. Those who could afford them used oxen to pull their belongings, but most pulled handcarts. They saw family and friends die from heatstroke and hypothermia. The journey across the country was arduous, but because of their strong faith they sacrificed their belongings and comfortable homes, left their friends, and sometimes family, behind. We are grateful for the sacrifice they made in order for us to have access to the gospel and the peace it brings.
Coming from a broken home, I "knew" marriage did not work, and having been abused (not by my wonderful father, but others in my life), I did not want to bring children into a world that let that kind of thing happen. It was not until my conversion I realized life did not have to be that way. The gospel completely changed the course of my life, as well as that of my brother. I married Craig and gave birth to four beautiful children. If not for the gospel, I would not have had any of them in my life, and I thank my Heavenly Father daily for them all. They, and our twelve grandchildren, are who make my life wonderful.
It is good to live today with video calling and internet, because as much as we love being here with our new friends, we miss our children and grandchildren very much. We are looking forward to seeing them again after our 18 months here. We will still have many years to have fun with our family when our mission is complete. For now though, we both feel we are where we are supposed to be.
