Another Chapter Begins

During the summer I got to stop at Carthage and see my sister Chris, who is serving there and in the Nauvoo with her husband.

Last summer we began talking about the possibilities of getting out for a third mission. Durk has felt for a long time that he’s like to serve three like his parents did. At one point I did point out that they did one year missions and we did two 18-month ones, so in one sense we had served as much. At any rate, as my dental check-up was coming in August I asked him if we were serious enough that I should take the medical/dental forms and get them dentist part done while I was there and Durk thought I should. 

This meant getting the bishop to officially start a missionary recommendation so that we could print the forms. 

 At the time, the London Temple was on the list of opportunities and that looked exciting. I even studied up on where it is and what’s in the area (an Aldi! one of our favorite stores) (Lovely park-like setting!) (Housing in a very old and cool-looking building) and there was also “high need” at the Nauvoo temple . My sister is serving a Historic Sites mission in Nauvoo and it would really be fun to get to see her and her husband there, have them over for dinner, whatever. About a week later both those opportunities were no longer on the list. Bummer. I decided not to even look again until we were ready to submit the paperwork. 

Durk realized he needed to find a new primary care doc (twice now he's had his retire) and when he chose one it was something like three months out that he could get an appointment, so I decided I’d better hurry and call. They said there was a cancelation he next day! So basically, in about a week I had all my stuff done. Meanwhile Durk was ready for his second knee replacement which ended up being a rough recovery. It took us until January to actually be ready to submit the paperwork. Now six-month stints at the Nauvoo and Palmyra Temples were on the list! We also put a Salt Lake City Spanish member-leader support spot and a Portuguese one as options. Basically, you can put preferences and they are considered, but then the needs and inspiration take over so you never know. Then it turned out that the online forms have a glitch and despite saying you could make changes until submitted, it said I had already put in preferences and couldn’t change them - even though the ones from August weren’t even on the list now and didn’t fit new criteria and timeline. So we put that in the notes along with some updated thoughts about where we'd like and why -- when we called the senior missionary department they said the more information we put in the better. 

 Well, we finally got everything done and the forms went to SLC the end of January, Duk decided to just end on the photo form the last mission application. I did send a note to the managing director of the missionary dept because he had said to let him know when we were ready to go out again and I got a surprising number of emails back, felt like I had unwittingly mobilized the whole department. One of the people we knew from over on the PreField side is now over senior missionaries, so I told him about the glitch in the system. He said they would have a whole new website soon. 

 We got our call pretty quickly - assigned to Boston MA Mission, Member Leader Support – We were surprised! It might have been on our list but it hadn’t been in our minds, kind of exciting!~ also surprisingly it didn’t say anything about language but when Durk got reading in the instructions, one of the things on the page of "things to do immediately" happened to include "Learn Portuguese". Apparently, the call letter (at least for Seniors) doesn’t include mention of language if its in the US. It looks like the Boston Mission includes Rhode Island and Connecticut. 

There was a number for the mission office so I called and they put me in touch with a couple who are currently serving in Cambridge in the Portuguese branch who told us about what they do - lots of Covenant Path Progress work with new members (I'm glad my stake RS calling has acquainted me with that!), taking members to doctors and drivers license place and even translating for landlords and things like that. They said its hard to fill up the daytime since so much working with people is in the evening. They work in the temple twice a month and do service along with young missionaries.  I think they mentioned doing some English Connect. which we have some experience with from Brasil. They were very glad the mission president told them to get a different car and not bring their big truck because it is hard to park. They told us they aren’t in the best area but its very convenient for getting to the members. Looks like we will do a lot of driving and in a lot of traffic, not a part we look forward to.

 Meanwhile I tried reviewing my Pimsleur language course and working on the Embark lessons from the church. I do remember a fair bit of it(its pretty beginner level) but not sure I can actually come up with it from my mouth at need. There was also a zoom orientation from a senior couple that told us some basics, like we choose our P-day, and that we would have a four-session "mentoring" with MLS information . For a while there was an added week in the MTC for MLS but now its the zoom sessions. There were other things under “do immediately” and it has little graphs to show how much is done, but it includes things like "get set apart" which we can't exactly do yet. So the mentoring ended up including another couple, going to Canada and entering the MTC the same day, which was good - we think even more people would be better, and it did have some good information. I only just discovered there was as section of instructions we hadn’t really looked at in the missionary portal with a whole list of things to read, study and watch to prepare for the MTC! I think the orientation or mentoring should have mentioned it and made sure we knew - especially since some is unclear whether it pertains to seniors or not. 

 As we got past mid-March we realized we needed to get seriously ready. I texted Sister Thorpe and we ended up with a phone call. They were just told that they would turn over their apartment to us and to leave before we got there so no one had to pay any hotels. They were thankful because they had some family things they were really wishing they could help with a bit sooner and this means they leave a few weeks earlier than they thought. They helped get the apartment set up and said it is very well stocked with kitchen equipment, etc. I got the address and see on Google that it is a pleasant-looking place with lots of stores and things nearby. We will have garage parking and a washer and dryer - though they apparently don’t turn off when opened but only when you turn the dial to Off. I was told we definitely need rain jackets but can buy them there and that the Brazilians really know the budget buying places. 

It looks likely I will take over playing piano for Sacrament mtg, Primary, and sometimes the Spanish branch! I asked about teaching piano and she said at first they would like that but then said she tried and gave up because no one ever practiced. That was kind of our experience in Brasil.There are five units meeting in the bldg we will be in, the Spanish and Portuguese branches meet at the same time as two of the wards so they probably use a smaller room than the chapel, (unless its a huge stake center with two chapels). We will need a fob and maybe key also to get in to park at the church and then into the building, they plan to pass all that along through the elders that live in the same complex. I've currently got piles of clothes in the living room trying to decide what to take, I definitely have too many. Surely I won’t get too sick of things in just six months but the weather is  probably going to be anything from wintery to high summer. I suppose the real cold is likely in Utah at the MTC but we plan to come home on the way to Boston to load the car. It only adds two hours to the total and has the added benefit of avoiding all the toll roads near Boston, so I can take different things for that week, if it helps.

I have a few last responsibilities in my stake calling but since the training we had recently with our area authority was so relevant to our mission, I'm glad I will still get to attend a leadership training with Elder Kearon and Elder Dubay as well. Elder Morgan had each ward send those over Missionary and Temple/Family History and discussed how they need to take ownership of their responsibilities. Both sisters and priesthood leaders are still getting used to the relatively new concept of leading out together in these efforts, as well as taking most of the counseling and other helps for adults off the shoulders of the bishop. I typed out all I could afterward and googled-translated it into Portuguese in case it helped me learn how to share something useful.

I did have one small spiritual experience I ought to record. As I've been researching my LPR extensively over the last year (respiratory reflux, causes difficulty swallowing and hoarseness among other things) stress often comes up as a contributing factor and since it flared up after we got Covid in January I wondered if the stress of new place, new tasks and trying to use Portuguese would be a problem. I was thinking about it while trying to get more reading done in the Book of Mormon - because our instructions included re-reading before the MTC (which is a lot in the few weeks we've had). The story came to mind of my mother being the Syracuse with five kids in tiny student housing and how she was feeling like she might lose it with her kids, being in there during cold snowy winter without car, etc. and the bishop advised her to pick up the Book of Mormon and open it anywhere and just read until she felt peace. I felt that if I read the book of Mormon more, I will have more peace - I already have an answer to that worry.

Unless something major happens before we leave, I think this will stand as our record of preparing and I will start the blog for real when we get to the MTC or more likely, when we are done there and I have time to write about it. At least then there might be pictures.