It's Official: We Are Fulltime Missionaries

This afternoon, we were set apart as fulltime missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by our Stake President, Gordon Wright. It was a sublime affair. Many in our family were there to participate in the setting apart. Jessica and Billy and family, Sarah (Eden and Max stayed home with Armando), Bill and Sandra and Arthur, Dorothy and Zack attended. Jason and family stayed home, as they were not feeling well (Get well soon.) President Wright impressed upon us the nature of what was actually happening. An assignment, determined before this world was, is ours to labor in Russia. There is a work for us to do. We are on the Lord's errand.

This is not new doctrine, but the gravity of his message seemed to mean more to me today, as one being set apart as a fulltime missionary, than any other calling that I have received in the past. I believe that feeling comes from recognizing that this calling requires leaving as much of the world behind as we possibly can and focusing all of our energies on building the kingdom of God. We believe these callings are from God and that these callings were determined before this world was created. It is now up to us to determine, through personal revelation, God's will and how we might be able to move this great work forward with the assignments that we are given.

On a lighter note, I called Jewel Martin, the wife of the missionary who baptised me in 1974 to confirm our dinner appointment for Friday night and to see if her husband Stan was suspecting anything. She told me that he had tried to schedule another activity for the same time, and was curious as to why "this date" with his wife couldn't be changed. Finally, his daughter, with whom her mother had confided, said something to the effect, "Dad, If you don't go with mom on Friday night, you will regret it for the rest of your life!!" I am not sure if it is that important...but I like her spirit!!

So, we are left with a few tasks to complete. I have a list of twenty items and I am sure that Chris' list is about the same. We have been invited to dinner Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (and one more hour of racketball with Jason and Zack!) and the entire family is invited to meet with us Thursday night before we leave. So, you may not hear from us for a few days. We fly to Salt Lake City on Friday morning.