As many of you know, our youngest daughter, Kailen, chose to serve an 18-month mission for our church, and she’s been on her mission for almost 3 months now. As some of you might not know, full-time missionaries for our church email family once a week, send snail mail once a week (if they want to), and call/Skype/FaceTime home on Christmas and Mother’s Day. That’s all. And while some people look at me like I’m crazy for being okay with this, I really am okay with this. It’s important for our missionaries to be totally focused on the work they’re doing, not on what’s going on at home. And yes, it’s hard. Super hard sometimes. And oh, how I look forward to seeing her weekly email pop up on my phone home screen. It’s definitely the highlight of my week! And Christmas and Mother’s Day take on a whole new meaning when you’re looking forward to seeing and talking with your missionary, thanks to the blessing of technology. I so miss Kailen calling and just talking on the phone with me about totally random stuff for an hour or so like she did when she was in Rexburg at school. Which is kind of amazing, since before she went off to college, I couldn’t get her to talk on the phone for anything! And I still find myself wanting to text her to ask her a question or to tell her something.
Here’s part of an email she sent me a couple of weeks ago, and she gave me permission to share this:
This week was really hard though. I was super homesick, which I’ve never really been so far because usually I can just call you or dad, but I can’t do that anymore. Anyway, the one sister from Tennessee, Hermana Price, somehow makes me feel better. Maybe it’s her southern accent, but really just her in general, but for some reason just being around her makes me feel a lot better. On Saturday, I was really homesick, and I prayed for comfort and to feel better but nothing really came, so I just went on with life the rest of the day and Sunday. I kept praying that somehow I would feel comforted, but I didn’t know how that would happen without being able to hear from you guys or anyone else, so I just kinda’ gave up. Then today we went to Walmart later than usual because we were playing softball. Well, when we were in Walmart, the Hermanas (sister missionaries who teach in Spanish) were there randomly. They just came to get one thing, which is weird because the Walmart we go to is out of their area, and it’s a pretty big Walmart, so the chances of seeing them would be super unlikely, so I never would’ve thought that we would see them, but we did! And it was exactly what I needed. Hermana Price gave me a big hug, and I got the comfort I had been praying for. It was definitely divine intervention because there is no way that I should’ve seen her today. Prayers are answered and miracles happen everyday. Heavenly Father really does know us and what we need to keep getting through each day.
I still get all teary reading this! Like I said, it is hard not being able to communicate with her like I’m used to, and I pray every day that she’s doing okay. When I asked her if it would be okay if I shared this on my blog, she said, “Yes, of course! Maybe it will help someone else understand that no matter where they are or what they’re going through, and even if they feel totally alone, Heavenly Father knows them, He’s always with them, and He knows what they are going through. And He’s there to help them.”
I’m so thankful my sweet daughter knows to whom she can look for comfort and help when she’s having a hard time and that she recognizes these tender mercies for what they are—a personal message from her Heavenly Father just when she needs it most.
And as her mom, that is definitely a tender mercy for me.
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