Mission stories. We've heard them. And heard them, and heard them. Sometimes it seems every other Sunday School comment starts with "When I was on my mission..." [insert eye rolls and 'here we go again' looks here]. A lot of my schoolmates would tease the RMs for only ever talking about their missions.
I used to hear them all the time. First, I had friends leaving on missions, so I wrote to them. In the return letters, I heard all about Ghana, Pennsylvania, Costa Rica, the West Indies. My friends at school would also tell me stories from their missions--Russia, Arizona, Salt Lake, New York, Canada, South Africa, the Carolinas, Washington. Then friends started coming home, and it was "Oh, it was so, so amazing! And here, let me introduce you to some of my converts on Skype..." Last year, I had a couple friends that were recently off of their missions, and it was always "Fiji this" or "Chile that" ; "I miss Hawaii SO MUCH!" or "This one time in Trinidad..." It was great.
Then my women-friends took off. Capo Verde, North Carolina, Provo, Croatia, Indiana, and more. Then my younger cousins and friends started leaving. I loved getting letters and hearing about their experiences.
Now my women-friends are coming home. Most of them ARE home, actually. The men have been home for at least a year, and the mission stories are much less frequent (either because they have other things to relate to now, or perhaps because we've heard them all? Who knows). The women tell some mission stories, still, but many of them jumped right back into the game of life, with school and work and dating and engagements (and marriages, some).
I realized today that I *MISS* hearing mission stories. I didn't go on a mission--a surprise to many, including myself--and I LOVE to hear about all of the--well, all of it!! The sharing of the Gospel, the different cultures, the people (wow, some of the people stories), the earthquakes, the castles, the elephants, the getting-chased-down-by-a-crazy-guy-with-a-machete...all of them!
I'm glad there's not too much longer until Caitlin gets to go, then Emily, then Robert. They all put in their papers within the year, theyll get their respective calls--then I'll get a whole new batch of mission stories. :-)
But me? I love them. (The stories, not the RMs.)
(Okay, maybe some of the RMs.)
I used to hear them all the time. First, I had friends leaving on missions, so I wrote to them. In the return letters, I heard all about Ghana, Pennsylvania, Costa Rica, the West Indies. My friends at school would also tell me stories from their missions--Russia, Arizona, Salt Lake, New York, Canada, South Africa, the Carolinas, Washington. Then friends started coming home, and it was "Oh, it was so, so amazing! And here, let me introduce you to some of my converts on Skype..." Last year, I had a couple friends that were recently off of their missions, and it was always "Fiji this" or "Chile that" ; "I miss Hawaii SO MUCH!" or "This one time in Trinidad..." It was great.
Then my women-friends took off. Capo Verde, North Carolina, Provo, Croatia, Indiana, and more. Then my younger cousins and friends started leaving. I loved getting letters and hearing about their experiences.
Now my women-friends are coming home. Most of them ARE home, actually. The men have been home for at least a year, and the mission stories are much less frequent (either because they have other things to relate to now, or perhaps because we've heard them all? Who knows). The women tell some mission stories, still, but many of them jumped right back into the game of life, with school and work and dating and engagements (and marriages, some).
I realized today that I *MISS* hearing mission stories. I didn't go on a mission--a surprise to many, including myself--and I LOVE to hear about all of the--well, all of it!! The sharing of the Gospel, the different cultures, the people (wow, some of the people stories), the earthquakes, the castles, the elephants, the getting-chased-down-by-a-crazy-guy-with-a-machete...all of them!
I'm glad there's not too much longer until Caitlin gets to go, then Emily, then Robert. They all put in their papers within the year, theyll get their respective calls--then I'll get a whole new batch of mission stories. :-)
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