To Jason, Carol, and you other Parents 12/5/09

To Jason, Carol, and you other Parents 12/5/09
Weather --  Heavy overcast
Temp -- 26 F Wind -- 8-10 mph

Welcome aboard Jason.  Thanks for your comment. If you want to know more about the living conditions and experiences in our first few months here, I invite you to go back to some of the early posts. It was all more of a mystery then than it is now and I posted a lot about the daily routine and new experiences.

We are looking forward to all of our new missionaries and now I will have a connection with Elder Eborn. Sister Gneiting's mom, Carol, and many others follow the blog for the same reason; to get a look at what your missionary is experiencing, enduring, enjoying.

We love these missionaries and you as parents may be interested to know my observation about them. As a parent, I was always concerned how my "not too focused" child was going  to do, basically on his/her own, out in the mission. The three we sent out all came back older in many ways, more focused, and really nice people.

My observation is that their chronological self and their spiritual self shows become evident in different circumstances and the spiritual self is a great testimony as to how ancient and well prepared these spirits really are. In social situations with other missionaries, they are 19-20 year-olds without a doubt. In our city, the elders love to play Risk and do so at every opportunity. The sisters seem to gravitate to Jenga, an interesting, suspenseful game of stacking logs on a tower.  In their missionary work, in their teaching, in their mentoring of new members, in their district and zone meetings they are incredibly mature, sensitive, and discerning.

Your children are the best that their ancient spirits can manage with their young minds and I am continually impressed and touched by their ability to take on that maturity in spiritual matters. We still have to inspect their apartments and admonish them to keep things clean, report damage, pick up their socks, and all of the same things you harass them about at home, but in their missionary work they are all the best anyone could hope for in a missionary of any age.

We have senior couples in each city except two, but those young missionaries get regular visits from those close at hand. These senior couples are the guardians of what you have taught them at home, providing a little home cooking, and an emotional support when needed.

Your children, though they are definitely not children out here in Siberia, are well cared for, supervised, and supported by a loving president and his wife, the Trejos, by the various senior couples, and by the angels God has assigned to watch over them in Siberia.

Be strong. They are.

What a country.
DS