Our First Departing Missionaries

Tuesday, August 10th, was an incredible, emotional day for President Winn and me. It was our first time to say good-bye to missionaries who have completed their full terms of service. For young men, who hold the priesthood office of Elder, that means they left their homes two years ago. For the Sister missionaries, it's been 18 months. (That's because women are so much smarter than men, and so much more efficient, we can get done in 18 months what it takes the men two years to accomplish. Okay, that might not be exactly church doctrine. Okay, okay, that's not church doctrine at all. But it's my personal opinion that that's why it happens that way!) You cannot believe the outstanding young men and women who we had to let go! It was an inspiring and humbling experience! Two years ago, they left home. They left behind their girlfriends and cars, interrupted their schooling, gave their cell phones and their i-pods to their younger siblings, packed up a bunch of white shirts and ties, and headed for someplace far from home. They have only called home four times in the last two years, but they've written home once a week. They got up at 6:30 every morning. They studied scriptures daily for hours. They have performed more kinds of service for more kinds of people than they can remember. They work for the Lord 15 hours a day, 6 days a week, and on their preparation day, they get 12 hours off to clean their apartment, do their laundry, write home and shop for groceries. They get assigned to be companions with people they've never met before. The best part about it all is that THEY LOVE IT!! They do it all with a smile, and mature and grow to be the most amazing, unselfish people you'll ever meet. What a blessing it has been for us to associate with them. Even after only six short weeks, we both cried as we prepared to say good-bye to them.


So Tuesday morning, we met with 15 young people who were just about ready to go home. We all went down to Temple Square, in the heart of Salt Lake City, for a special church service in the temple there. It is a beautiful temple, and it was a beautiful day! Before the service, we all sat in a quiet room, where Bruce and I were supposed to impart words of wisdom to them as they ventured out to move forward in their lives. Since I don't normally have many words of wisdom, I asked my children who had served missions to tell me what their mission presidents' wives had said that had an impact on them. Jarom replied, "Tell them the same things you told us, you know, to behave and be nice to the girls." Not particularly profound, but it is what I told Jason and Jarom. Natie gave me the best answer, he said, "Yeah, mom, I don't remember anything that either my mission president or his wife told me, but I do remember the great hamburger that I had on the last day of my mission!" So I kept my talk short, which was good because I started crying before I even stood up to begin, and after we were done with the religious service in the temple, Bruce and I took them all to a very nice restaurant so that they could have that great hamburger that they would remember us by!
We went over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, just across the way from the temple, and ate at the Garden Restaurant, which had a lovely view of the temple. Here are all the missionaries who were going home together. One sister and fourteen Elders. You won't find a finer group of young adults anywhere.

Elder Parks is going home to Alaska. Elder Watt is going home to Canada.

Elder Norton is going home to Alaska, where he swears he will be the first one of the bunch of them to kiss a girl! Hmmm.... Elder Slesk is returning to Washington state. He makes no such claims.

Sister Martinez is returning to Mexico. She is the lone sister missionary in the group. Her wisdom and experience will be missed greatly among the sister missionaries. Sister Winn's mission is nowhere near being over, but she gets to go out to eat anyway!!

Elder Nelson is one of President Winn's assistants. He won't go home until September, but he gets to come to lunch, too. Elder Barnett is heading back to Canada.

Elder Huffaker is our rebel California missionary. Not really. He has a medical condition that requires him to wear the glasses and hat to filter light. He tells people that if he were just going to be a disobedient missionary, he would have chosen a cooler hat and glasses that weren't pink!

Elder Cammie will have the longest flight home. He's going back to Thailand. Elder Brimacombe won't leave for a couple of weeks, and then he's going home to Canada.

Elder Flake is trying to decide what the first thing is that he will do when he gets home to Tennessee.

Elder Muamoholeva was joined by an aunt who lives in Utah, so that they could have a good visit before he goes home to Tonga.

Elder Blanco is the only missionary in the bunch who has a girlfriend still waiting for him at home after two years. He's going back to Spain, and the other missionaries are all betting that he will be the first one to get married! He just smiles, and says that she is the prettiest girl in Spain, so he's hoping they are right!

Elder Clem will be returning to Indiana, where evidently they are picky about having crumbled bleu cheese on their steaks, or they send them back to the kitchen! Elder Parks was not nearly so picky.

President Winn loved every minute of being with the missionaries.

Elder Barnett says so long to Elder Quintanilla, from Maryland.

Good-byes for good friends.

After the restaurant, we all went back to the Mission Office. That evening, there was an opportunity for the departing missionaries to say farewell and bear testimony of the truths they have been teaching for the past two years. Many family members and friends were there. The most touching experience was watching the love between the missionaries and the people they had introduced to the gospel. Quite a few families were there to say good-bye. These were families whose lives had been changed because they learned about the gospel of Jesus Christ from these missionaries. These are people who will never forget the names and faces of the fine young missionaries who sacrificed so much, and changed their lives for eternity.