Another Cog in the Mix of Life

Whether I'm  planning on gardening, traveling, sewing, or remodeling in the next year is not on my mind right now.
The Hubby and I have been called on a mission for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, so my mind has been occupied with primarily that tidbit for the past few months. Getting prepared by reading and studying the Gospel and what missionaries teach and live like has been where my learning curve has taken up residence.
We are putting on hold our other plans for the next 3 ½ years so that we can be Mission Presidents in charge of the Utah Provo Mission. Not quite what we had in mind when we were called (asked by a member of the Church's 1st Presidency - President Uchtdorf.)
I'll explain how that all went down.
We were traveling with my siblings and spouses in Scotland/UK/Isle of Man in September when the Hubby received an email from Elder L. Tom Perry who is a member of The Quorum of the 12 Apostles. We looked at each other and thought, oh no, is this going to be what I think it is? We had spoken to him a couple of years ago when he inquired about our lives, kids, parents, jobs, etc. At that time he stated that he would keep our file and maybe address us at a later date, but for now he felt like we were needed in out regular lives. That was 2 years ago. . . . Now the Hubby is between jobs, the children are all about their business, the parents are taken care of by our siblings and each other (which was also the case two years ago, but I digress,) and we are to talk to Elder Perry by Skype a couple weeks later.
Well in mid October we had that call. Elder Perry is a delightful 93 year old man, with wit, sharpness, and ease of character. He used to stand at least 6 foot 4 inches, has a booming voice, is a wonderful story teller, and still carries that presence. This time around he recommended us to be Mission Presidents. This set us on the course to speak with President Dieter F. Uchtdorf who is a member of the 1st Presidency of the Church. President Uchtdorf is also one of the Apostles, but is serving as a councilor to The Prophet, Thomas S. Monson at this time.
We Skyped with President Uchtdorf while we were on a little trip up to the northern coast of California for the Hubby's 60th birthday. It was an early morning and we woke up, got dressed into our Sunday clothes and sat in our little bed and breakfast room for the call. This call was more serious in nature as he asked us to be english speaking Mission Presidents starting in July of 2015. There would be about 50 english speaking missions needing new leaders at that time as they would be finishing their 3 year service and returning to their lives. About 20 of those couples would be going to various spots around the globe and the other 30 would serve in North America somewhere. We quickly looked up missions around the globe and located a list of 2012 called Presidents to see where this adventure might take us. (That is a whole other story - if I start adding to this blog again, I'll be sure to add it.)

Kathryn was our official photographer

Finally in December we got our assignment and needless to say we were surprised to see we would be going to Provo Utah. Although less than ecstatic when we first opened the letter, we are now thinking that it is the most awesome of all the places we could have dreamed up. Provo is the hub of activity for the Church, and has missionaries assigned to it from all over the world. They are anxiously engaged in this good cause as they work hard, learn how to teach the gospel the best that they possibly can, help reactivate people that aren't as committed as they used to be, and become better individuals through their 2 years or 18 months served. The mission has been so successful that it is to be split in two on the day that we begin.
On top of that, we can drink the water, shop in familiar places, be clean, have medical care, learn more family history (both of my parents grew up in Provo,) and enjoy our last 3 winters in the cold.

Needless to say, we are not remodeling our kitchen or any other part of our house in this new year. Stephanie and Jon are going to be living here and taking care of the house, and we will be taking care of another house which we will just take over from the Mission President who is there now.
We are studying the Gospel, and logistics of serving as leaders in a mission, going to doctors to take care of all our little issues that will be needing to be ignored for the next 3 busy years, and preparing the house. I'm trying to sew some clothes, because I need a more conservative wardrobe, cleaning out closets, and scrapbooking so that I can get rid of most of my scrap materials and clean out a whole closet in the process, figure out what I need in my new house without seeing it first, and anything else that comes up.
So, life never is dull. Change is constant. Any other saying that goes here. We are definitely in for an adventure.