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Just wanted to let you all know my son opened up his mission call last night, and is going to be serving in Spain, Madrid mission. He is very excited. It has been an interesting ride the past few years. He was there when the police arrested me on false charges, and he took care of his brother while I was hauled off. He was there when his mom flipped out and police hauled her off to be admitted in a psych unit. He went through his rough days and rebellious times. He decided to leave his mom and come live with me and find a normal, stable home with a new step-mom that loves him, get involved in seminary, find friends at church, do home teaching, and watch his dad be Ward Mission Leader and go on appointments with me. On his own, he started reading the Book of Mormon, Preach My Gospel, and Jesus the Christ. He doubted the whole organized religion thing for a while, but came back to it and had some spiritual experiences. He knows his dad would be proud of him either with a mission or without, I didn’t care either way…but he wanted to and got himself ready for it.
He navigated through a bit of a time with a very strict bishop who really scared him about not being able to repent about some things…but he did well and had his own convictions on confessing and having faith in the atonement.
He found a happy place within mormonism. And wants to go into the world and be on his own.
And last night he received that call to go to Spain and many tears of joy were shed. He is quite responsible and has good people skills, is about 6’2″ and will do good in a foreign land. I’m a proud pappa.
I wanted to share.
There are many times I am reminded of the blessings our family has directly because of the church and it’s organization and it’s role in creating opportunities to have experiences in life. Today, I am especially grateful for that and how it blesses our family. I sometimes want to lecture my son about the bible and BOM are not literal…temple is symbolic…blah blah blah….all that will get worked out as he grows into his testimony. FOr today…we are just happy to be mormon, and happy he has this opportunity.
Congrats! Castellano or Catalan speaking? 🙂 It sounds like your son has survived and rose above quite a lot. I’m sure he’ll be a great missionary.
P.S. I hope he’s not a big Barça fan.
Thanks Nibbler. His call just says Madrid, Spanish speaking…so he will have to figure out the rest when he gets there. They have the MTC in Madrid he will report to.
I’ve carefully mentioned some topics to him about a less than literal interpretation of scriptures…want him to know some Joseph Smith issues, etc so he knows things before committing 2 years in a foreign land and can’t come back to say…”Dad…why didn’t you tell me?”
But…he seems to be fine with his testimony and excited to preach the gospel and serve people, focus on loving people.
nibbler wrote:P.S. I hope he’s not a big Barça fan.
Haha…he said after opening the letter, that he is going to have to start learning about soccer. All he knows now is from xbox, that Messi is good.
Wonderful for both of you. I have enjoyed watching/reading DJ’s work with his boys. I will enjoy watching yours. Congratulations to both of you.
DJ…you’ve been a great example for me and a good friend. Thanks for the advice! Thanks for the congrats mom3! :thumbup: It’s very exciting.My sister served in that mission back in the late 80’s. She loved it, although it was extremely difficult from a conversion standpoint. I would say he needs to understand the issue of where he is serving and not go in measuring success by the number of baptisms he sees. Preach My Gospel says explicitly it’s not about the numbers, so it would be good to find those statements and make sure he reads them.
Thanks Ray. So far he has just said he is wanting to see a bull fight…that is his measure of success. 😯 I have also heard it is trying on the conversion side. I mean, we all know it isn’t about numbers…but they do motivate missionaries, good bad or indifferent, they do that. It is what they are out on their missions to do. My guess is he is pretty prepared for focusing on loving people and enjoying the experience, regardless of what else happens.
Do you all know how it works for mission prep. I haven’t ready through all the papers yet…still sifting…but one quick question you may know to help me… Does the cost of flying my son to Spain get included in the monthly mission cost we pay…or is it our responsibility to fly him to Madrid and pay for that in addition to the mission cost?
I also thought it was interesting that on his mission list they said he needs to bring a Samsung Galaxy Tablet with him. Missionaries these days…it’s not what it used to be!
The church pays for all flights. thanks. Phew. That’s like…$2,400 and leaving in a few short months…that was stressing me out. I can only go donate so much plasma at a time!
:shifty: That’s when you switch to sperm banks. Heber13 wrote:DJ…you’ve been a great example for me and a good friend. Thanks for the advice!
Thanks. I don’t know why I didn’t see this thread before now, I guess I just didn’t look up here. With both my sons, the one who served and the one who is serving, I was secretly hoping for stateside missions. One went to Chile and one to Brazil. They were happy with their calls, so I was and am also happy for them. I just shared this from Elder Oaks’ conference address with the one in Brazil:
Quote:Nearing the end of His earthly ministry, our Savior, Jesus Christ, commanded His disciples: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations” (Matt 28:19) and “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). All Christians are under these commands to share the gospel with everyone. Many call this the “great commission.” …
…We need to remember “that people learn when they’re ready to learn, not when we’re ready to teach them.” What we are interested in, like the important additional doctrinal teachings in the restored Church, usually isn’t what others are interested in….
…As we speak to others, we need to remember that an invitation to learn more about Jesus Christ and His gospel is preferable to an invitation to learn more about our Church. We want people to be converted to the gospel. That is the great role of the Book of Mormon. Feelings about our Church follow conversion to Jesus Christ; they do not precede it. Many who are suspicious of churches nevertheless have a love for the Savior. Put first things first.
nibbler wrote:That’s when you switch to sperm banks.
😆 😆 😆 ohhhhh…..you totally went there!!
Good thing this is behind the admin door. Too funny.
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