We just hit our half way mark on our mission...18 months down, 18 months to go. With that said, we just experienced having missionaries who arrived after us finish their missions. Sister missionaries serve for 18 months. It was so bittersweet to see them complete their missions. We were so proud of each one, yet so sad to see them go home.
This has really made me think of a mission as an analogy of earth life. When we come to earth we leave our heavenly parents and are welcomed by our earthly parents. While on earth we grow from an infant into an adult. We learn so many things, including how to talk, how to be independent, how to trust and have faith. We have to endure many trials, sicknesses, disabilities, disappointments, etc. Often, we are given families of our own. At the end of this life we will pass through the veil to the other side and will be welcomed back to our heavenly home by our heavenly parents.
Well, when missionaries come on a mission they leave their own parents and arrive here in the mission field, welcomed by Steven and me as their "parents" during their missions. They are given a family...companions and other missionaries in their districts and zones. Sometimes they are given missionaries to train, whom they refer to lovingly as their "son" or "daughter". They must learn how to talk again, this time in French and Tahitian. They learn how to work and survive in a new climate and country. They learn to trust the Lord by relying on His spirit to guide them each day. They learn to work with and trust their companions. They endure many trials, sicknesses, disappointments. Some come with disabilities that make a mission more difficult for them than for others. They become independent and strong as missionaries and individuals. Their growth is amazing in so many ways. And then at the end of their missions they depart, going through the "veil" (airport security) to the other side as they await their plane flights home. They are soon welcomed back home by their parents who sent them on their missions.
I felt the reality of this analogy as we said goodbye this week to this first group of sister missionaries we had welcomed after our arrival here 18 months ago. They had learned so much. They had grown so amazingly strong in their testimonies. They had gone through some hard trials...including the death of a parent. Some had to learn how to trust others as part of their growth. They all had to deal with sicknesses and disappointments. They all had had success in seeing others come to Christ. We had grown to love them dearly during these 18 months together.
But one thing I was reminded of years ago as I left France after living there with a group of BYU exchange students...in French we don't say "adieu", which is a final farewell, but we say "au revoir", which means "until we meet again". That is the most important message we teach the world as missionaries: We will be together again one day, whether here on earth or after this life. We will see each other, give each other hugs, and talk and talk and talk.
So, beautiful sisters who left us, "Au revoir...until we meet again. We love you! "...your mission mom and dad.
