The Last Days

Our last week has been filled with packing boxes, wrapping up in the zone, cramming in a few last scanning sessions, saying goodbye to friends and family and reviewing our own special memories.

On Monday after working in the zone (I finished the New Zealand updates, hurray!)we attended the Branch Christmas 'Hail and Farewell' Dinner in the JSMB. It was lovely. Our names were announced as one of 3 couples leaving the mission in December. All of us had to stand up at the front so the Branch could sing goodbye to us. It was hilarious......people stood up and came to the front to take our picture.....camera flashes were going off left and right and Sister Pilling, who was standing next to me, grabbed my arm and said, "We are like rock stars!".

On Tuesday we worked briefly in the zone and then began the process of dividing out the stuff we have accumulated in our 17 months here. What an ordeal! Some is given to our daughter; some we want to keep but don't need at home so we will store it at our daughter's house for now; some we will give to away Deseret Industries; some is wanted by the missionaries who are moving into our apartment in January (they have friends who are in the mission so they wanted to collect it for them and let them know what they would not have to bring); some we are giving to the missionary monthly swap meet; and some will go home with us. I was quickly overwhelmed by this process and the need for lists of what goes where, etc. Fortunately, Ed is a workhorse and he plows through the work. The best part of this day was meeting our trainers for dinner. It was such fun to have started out our experience here in the mission with them and to be able to finish with them. We had dinner in the Garden Restaurant upstairs in the JSMB and then they wanted us to show them the Community Trees so we went back to our desks and explored ways they might be able to use the Trees while they are training new missionaries.

On Wednesday we had Edison but had planned on picking him up and taking him back down to Provo so I could use the equipment Derrick(our son-in-law)had told me about in the campus library. It was much faster than scanning on our own machine at home and I preferred the program they used to the one I had. But first, I had to show up at the Elijah Choir practice to receive my certificate of service in the choir. I really didn't want to do that because I cry so easily and I really didn't want to cry in front of the choir, but I had been asked to play the piano in our zone devotional and we meet right after the choir in the JSMB Chapel so there wasn't a good way to get out of this. I arrived with Edison and they asked me to come to the front. It made it so much easier to accept the applause from the choir while holding Edison because everyone was smiling at him! Babies in the mission are a rare commodity so the attention I was getting was given to him with ooo's and ahhh's galore. It was quick and clean and I didn't cry.
I have enjoyed singing with these wonderful missionaries for over a year now. I can say with certainty that I have personally felt the assistance of angels joining us as we have sung these praises to our Savior and to the importance of this work.

After our zone devotional I took a few pictures and then we packed up Edison and my mother's genealogy and a few boxes of things to store at Autumn&Derrick's house and headed for the BYU campus. Ed stayed at home with Edison and I took the car to the library. I scanned for 5 hours and then returned to Autumn's house to check on Ed. He had done a great job with Edison who had taken a 2-3 hour nap! Autumn and Derrick returned home from work, we had dinner and then Derrick's brother came to stay with Edison while they took us (really it was for Ed's birthday but I sort of go along with him) back on campus to see the BYU production of White Christmas. It is one of Ed's all time favorite movies so Autumn did this for his birthday. It was very well done and we had a great time. We returned to SLC tired but it was a good day.

On Thursday we were "organizing" at the apartment and the phone rang. It was the employee with whom we had been working who needed some help so she wanted to know when we were coming in! Ed had planned on going in but the Tongan man who is a CSM(a local Church Service Missionary) was also in the zone today and we needed to connect on some things so both of us went over for a little while and then came back to work on organizing and packing until 4pm. At that time we picked up a missionary couple and headed out to the Hale Center Theatre to see the production of "A Christmas Carol". We love the Hale Center Theatre and it was a great performance for us to end on. Our missionary friends had never been there and they were very excited about it.

Friday was spent organizing and packing again. It was Derrick's birthday so we packed up more things to store at Autumn&Derrick's and more genealogy to scan and I spent a couple of hours scanning in the library again while Ed unloaded and inventoried at the Gibelyou house. We met them for a birthday dinner at 5:30pm and had a great time. Edison joined us for dinner and he was lively and fun for the surrounding tables as well as entertaining for us. Two of Derrick's brothers joined for the birthday celebrating.

Saturday was our final day of preparation. Ed worked like a machine getting boxes prepared and delivered. We decided we would plan to spend Sat, Sun and MonAM as if we were in a motel so we didn't worry about keeping any food or utensils. [Note: Now that it is noon on Sunday we are thinking that wasn't a great plan. We have a few crackers, bananas, clementines and nuts we bought for the trip. We are even sharing one glass which I had been using and forgot to pack!] Ed delivered boxes of food to other missionaries; boxes of apartment essentials to another missionary for the couple moving into our apartment; took another run to Deseret Industries; delivered a box of things for the missionary swap meet; packed up more boxes to take to Provo and then off we went for the final day of scanning (yes....there was a lot of stuff to scan). Autumn, Derrick and Edison came to the library for a while which was a great help. Then we returned to SLC to our apartment to find that someone had parked their car in our spot but we called the weekend manager and found another spot for last night.

This morning we attended our last Music and the Spoken Word. I tried to wave at my two female friends who are altos in the choir but now that they are in the Conference Center I am sure they did not see me. It was wonderful as always and is something I will miss.

At Sacrament Meeting today our friends, the Jensen's, who came to the mission in the same group we did, spoke. Elder Jensen shared things he has learned while serving here and most of them were things that I had also become aware of. Some of them are:
1. We have learned that much of my life has been in preparation for my missionary service.
2. We were assigned exactly where we needed to be.
3. We learned to rely on the Lord.
4. We learned (again) that no one is irreplaceable.
5. We learned how quickly we are able to bond with those with whom we work.
6. We learned how quickly the Spirit of Elijah can touch hearts.
7. We have gained a small glimpse of the complexity of our world wide church.
8. We learned that we can rise at 5AM three days a week to go sing in the choir.
9. We learned that living in a Zion society is possible.

Now it is my hope that as we drive away tomorrow morning after devotional that I will keep this wonderful feeling in my heart and soul and share it with everyone I meet. I hope that through my service here I have become a different person; more like my Savior. I think ultimately that is the real purpose of serving a mission.