Departures

Each 6 week transfer period in the mission begins with arrivals and departures. I love the arrival days and dread the departures. We grow so fond of these great young men and women, that to send them home when their missions are over is a wrenching experience. If it weren't for the fact that I know there are ecstatic mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and sometimes girlfriends/boyfriends waiting on "the other side", I wouldn't/couldn't let them go. When my own children were due to return from their missions, I thought they were as excited to come home as we were to get them here. I now know that probably wasn't the case because I have watched the returning missionaries going through what amounts to a mourning phase as they leave. I have no doubt that if given the chance to extend, most of them would. But it's time for them to move on to the next chapters in their lives - school, marriage, families. . . .We host a departure dinner at the mission home the night before they get on the plane, followed by a testimony meeting. After that there is a dessert reception for parents who have come to pick up their missionaries, and for the senior couples to have a chance to say good-bye. Elders Foote, Gaggini, and McKee (top row middle) left in February. We love them and wish them well.