When you are waiting for a missionary...

[Rain]

When young women I know decide to "wait" for a missionary I often counsel them to not just sit around and wait.  That they should be doing things to improve themselves.  Go to school, bump up their scripture reading, get in shape physically etc.  Do things that will help you grow so when your missionary goes out he will not have outgrown you.   

Just got to thinking that this should apply to me as well as a missionary mom - not so much because my son will outgrow me as our relationship is obviously different than a potential spouse will be.  I don't know.  Just as good thing.  Something that has a beginning and end so you can see some progress.  Something to help connect to my missionary.  

I've been thinking of the missionary calendars where you put a sticker on each day they are gone.  I sort of like the idea, but it doesn't really fit me.  The first thing along those lines that came to me as I started to think about this was a picture a day while he is gone, but I'm already doing that for this year - I take a picture every day of 2019 and post on Instagram/facebook.  It's been a really good thing for me.  So since I'm already doing that it isn't going to work for his mission.  

So I started trying to figure out what I could come up to sort of combine them.  Just throwing ideas out there.  Some will not work, but maybe if I just throw it all out there I will figure out what feels right to me.   Hoping you will toss out a few ideas as well. so...

• Somehow lose all the weight I have been trying to lose forever - and not letting him know till he sees the after "picture" of me when he comes home.
• Do something in transfers.  Each transfer concentrate on one thing to work on . MTC - how to teach.  maybe take inspiration from the name of the place he is transferring into.
• Do one thing each day for the number of days he has been out. 35 pushups on day 35. Situps. Verses read.  After awhile this would get impractical and time consuming.
• make a contact of love or support for each day he is out
• start a missionary mom blog
• be more consistent with the blog I already have. use the areas he is in as inspiration for content on either blog
• right down a thing I am grateful for every day he is out
• read a book every week to help me understand/do more things spiritually every week he is out
• read the 4 books of scripture while he is out
• work through Preach My Gospel
• do the Christlike attributes quiz in Preach My Gospel and assign months to work on each attribute

 

Any other ideas you have?

[Rain]

Thought of another idea - scripture olympics - I did this in seminary more than 30 years ago.  There was a lot to it. Memorizing scriptures, reading etc.  I'm not finding it in a search.  Anyone familiar with it?  

[Calm]

Quote

Do one thing each day for the number of days he has been out

You could do this according to days of the month...maybe a monthly theme as well, so each day is different in some fashion.  That way it doesn't go more than 31.

Edited September 13, 2019 by Calm

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

Good advice, you are a good Mom, and a good teacher. Just know what matters most to any returning missionary, is not how much his Mother may, or may not weigh. Only if he can wrap his arms around her neck, that will be good enough. Second to that, will be eating his Mother’s cooking again, and feel the love of all the family around him. Then Dad comes somewhere in there at some point, but 1) Hugging Mom, 2) Eating Mom’s cooking, all other things are just bonus points, in descending order. Goals are great, but secondary to getting a healthy and happy Young Man or Woman home, for these are the things heaven is made of. I have sent both a Son and Daughter on a mission, and the days they returned were maybe, other than Marrying their Mother two of the best days of my life. The next nine where the days my grandchildren came. Of my few goals in life, the most important is being a good Husbad, Father and Papa. Also if God is willing, a Great-Papa. If I get that wrong, nothing I have done, or will do, will matter. 

[Robert F. Smith]

1 hour ago, Rain said:

Thought of another idea - scripture olympics - I did this in seminary more than 30 years ago.  There was a lot to it. Memorizing scriptures, reading etc.  I'm not finding it in a search.  Anyone familiar with it?  

Scripture Mastery?

[Rain]

5 minutes ago, Robert F. Smith said:

Scripture Mastery?

No. It was much more intense. It wasn't something official from the church. Just something my seminary teacher had. He jokingly said there was no way you could get a gold done in a year, but if someone did he would give them an A+ in seminary. I wish I could remember more details.

[Rain]

 

On 9/13/2019 at 4:22 PM, Bill “Papa” Lee said:

Good advice, you are a good Mom, and a good teacher. Just know what matters most to any returning missionary, is not how much his Mother may, or may not weigh. Only if he can wrap his arms around her neck, that will be good enough. Second to that, will be eating his Mother’s cooking again, and feel the love of all the family around him. Then Dad comes somewhere in there at some point, but 1) Hugging Mom, 2) Eating Mom’s cooking, all other things are just bonus points, in descending order.

What I am thinking of isn't about him.  It is about me.

I was thinking about how I have this finite time frame where my loved one is growing. I can sit here and mark time or I can make something of it. There is a beginning and ending time where I can see the before and after of whatever it is I decide to do.  You can do that in other ways, but this is just built in so it is easier in some ways and exciting to see what happens with it. It's enough time to really do something, but not too much time (though almost lol). 

I just have to figure out what it is for me personally.

 

 

Edited September 15, 2019 by Rain

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

41 minutes ago, Rain said:

 

What I am thinking of isn't about him.  It is about me.

I was thinking about how I have this finite time frame where my loved one us growing. I can sit here and mark time or I can make something of it. There is a beginning and ending time where I can see the before and after of whatever it is I decide to do.  You can do that in other ways, but this is just built in so it is easier in some ways and exciting to see what happens with it. It's enough time to really do something, but not too much time (though almost lol). 

I just have to figure out what it is for me personally.

 

 

I understand it was about you, and the message (or advice) you gave to students, and your goals. I was just seeking to be kind, and point out that your son has a great Mother, and your students a great teacher. Forgive me if any other message came through, I was just seeking to give some advice to all who read what I posted. All of my points, were and are the outcropping of my own age and experiences,  as all of my missionaries have returned, and married in the Temple, and have made great lives for themselves. Even the one who did not serve a mission, has made a great life for herself. But soon, in just a few short years, (which will leave me weeping out of control, desloving into a puddle of tears on the floor) I will have my grandchildren begin going on missions. When that happens, my singular goal will be to live long enough to see them again.  My grandchildren have become the air that I breathe, and I do not know if I can hold my breath for18 Months, to 2 years. I am a Papa, it is my job to love and spoil them, and I take that job very seriously! Although it is loud, and I can barely find a place to walk, each Sunday after Church, this home is filled with the 18 members of my family, my wife, my children (which includes their spouses) and their children. It is loud, it is messy, and it is wonderful. In short, it is a glimpse of heaven on earth. Oh, and the food my wife cooks makes it all the better. Some have asked me, (some atheist friends) “Bill, what if there is no heaven”? I tell them, “if not I won’t know, but I have lived a lifetime there already”. So please forgive me, if my comments confused you, or you felt them inappropriate, or misleading.