Mother's Day Phone Calls From the Field

Did you get calls this weekend from that missionary of yours? How was it? Did it make you sad or make them sad? Or was it just great to hear their voices. I have been out of the loop a while, but this blog is based on the assumption that missionaries still get to call home twice a year. Once on Mother's Day and once on Christmas. Does that still hold true? I actually do not remember calling home on Mother's Day. I am sure I did. I think I called my twin sister too. She had just had her first child, so I rationalized that she was a mother worth calling.

I also thought about Sister Yancey yesterday calling her kids. She is a Senior Sister and surrogate mother to my husband and me from our youth. I thought about how those roles were in reverse. The mom calling from the field as the missionary. What a great example she is!

We just wanted to challenge you to write down or scrapbook the experience of your Mother's Day phone call this week.

The Dinner Appointment

We were bad. On Sunday my husband was out of town and I semi committed to feeding the Elders the next day. I told our ward mission leader that I would call him to confirm once I had checked with JP at home. Then I went home and promptly forgot. Monday about 3:00 I remembered. I tried to call the ward mission leader and got the family answering machine. The Elders never came....

It has made me think about dinner appointments. Once when the mission calendar was not full I mentioned to someone that it was no big deal. I personally did not mind being "home" for dinner on occasion. An hour of down time was refreshing. This Sister was surprised and a little shocked. Her boys were fed every day on their missions, the Elders should have a meal every day.

Dinner appointment stories are great. There are always the "food" ones about what was eaten or where or in what condition. They tend to lead to the gross/scary side, but we think are worth noting. Missionaries are always on the move too. Dinner appointments are not just for eating. They are for finding, challenging, and testifying. Sometimes mission presidents put certain requirements on dinner. Some of the requirements are what I consider common sense (but still need to be stressed) confirm dinner, leave a thank you note, use good manners. Some are hard to live by, always eat at 5:00, never share a dinner appointment with the Elders/Sisters. Others were uniquely missionary, leave with a scripture and the name of a person to share the gospel with.

We challenge you to record some of your dinner appointments or ask your missionary what is required of them. Did any of them ever have a "green" meal? (Everything is died green to welcome the new missionary. See the pictures for Elder Eggett.) What new tastes did you bring home from your mission?