The Blessings for Senior Couples

A couple of weeks ago, our home Stake President asked President Chipman and I to send a video about the importance of couples serving missions.  President Chipman talked about how vital our senior missionaries have been to us and our missionaries as well as to the work.  I shared my thoughts about preparing as well as the blessings received for the service. The video was shown this weekend in the Highlands Ranch Stake Conference.  The following are my thoughts that I shared:

I want to talk about the timing of your mission because it is a big deal. You need to be proactive and intentional years before because if you wait too long, you might miss this amazing and sacred opportunity. Honestly, there is never the perfect time to leave your children or grandchildren. As Elder Paul B. Pieper said:  Sometimes the best way to learn to trust God is simply by trusting Him. 

As a parent, your whole life has been about caring for your family, and that focus will not change as you serve a mission.  What does change in wonderful ways, is the manner of how you will be able to care for them. 

 When I was set apart to serve and in other priesthood blessings concerning our mission, I was given three amazing promises about this that I want to share with you.  I believe that these are universal and therefore available to all couples who serve missions faithfully.

First, All of your words will be accompanied with the spirit and you will have the power to influence your children even more than if you were present. The interactions that you do have with your children will bring them closer to God.

Two, because God honors your sacrifice, the mission will bless your family even more than if you were home.  Your Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will watch out for your family –each one of them intimately, and angels will watch over them. 

And three, any gap created by your departure, God will fill.  Each of your kids will grow in wonderful ways because of the mission experience. Your example to your family will sit in their hearts and act as an open invitation for them to take advantage of the atonement and find joy in Him. Your example will help heal them. 

Brothers and sisters, what more could we want for our children than these promises from God?  When we left more than two years ago, our very shy granddaughter was less than two years old.  After more than a year, I needed to go home briefly for some basic medical tests that are not available in Southern Peru.  I was totally surprised when I arrived at the airport, and she literally ran into my arms and wouldn’t let go of my hand the whole way home in the car. She talked to me as if I had never left.

I have personally seen all these promised blessings while we have served. Our family continues to face trials and the difficulties of life, but I have no doubt that God has been especially mindful of my family. 

As described by Elder Holland in the latest mission leader conference, this has been the most personally rewarding conversion experience that I could ever hope for.  Because of this, my testimony is an added blessing for my family. 

This really is God’s work. I have no doubt, and I thank Him daily for this unique and sacred opportunity to serve him!  I invite you to trust Him by serving a mission. If your family is like mine, they need these blessings.  Make no mistake, it is a lot of work, but like me, you will grow in wonderful ways, and you will never want to return to the way things are today, because of the change that will occur in you and your family.