Mission Reunion Joys and Woes

While Gerrit, Elisabeth, and Mom attended a concert on the Friday before Conference, I went up to Salt Lake for a mission reunion.  I went to a reunion about a year after I returned home, but this is the first one that has been held for my President since then, so I was very excited about seeing everyone.


As I mentioned in another entry last Christmastime, I had a chance to get together with one of my companions, Santa Maria, and had a fabulous time catching up with her.  I was hoping this reunion would give me a chance to catch up with many of my other companions who I haven't seen for a long time.

Though I was massively looking forward to the event, I was also a little apprehensive.  It kind of sucks going to stuff like that alone, especially when you know that everyone else will bring their families.  As I walked in, this awkwardness was at its height.  Everyone I could see around was with their spouse and kids and I didn't see anyone I knew well.  President and Sister Moeller were welcoming a missionary's family in front of me, so I was standing silently behind trying not to look entirely awkward and starting to regret my decision to come, when I saw one of my comps walking toward me.

It was Palu, my Samoan companion.  She looked very different than I remembered her, but it was still easy for me to recognize her.  The funny part that she told me later was that Sister Moeller didn't even recognize her and had to ask who she was after being around her for about 30 minutes!  I immediately felt better after greeting Palu.  She told me to go get some food, so I went and got something to eat.  Palu had done all the cooking and had provided a great spread.  Unfortunately, at these sort of things, I often have not much of an appetite, so I stuck with some salad and a really delicious steak lo me.  I found a table with some room and got to eating.  Former Elder Schmolt was there with his wife and 4-year-old and we were soon joined by Palu and former sister Godfrey, who is now a Roberts.

Sister Palu and I with some wrestlers we found in the trash on the mission.  Who would throw these treasures away?

I never served around Schmolt, but it was nice hearing about how things are going for him anyway.  I always feel kind of sorry for the spouses especially at these kinds of reunions as I'm sure it's a potentially boring and uncomfortable situation there.  Kids also get the short end of the stick sometimes unless they can find other kids around their same age to hang out with.  I did my best to mitigate the unpleasantness for both Elder Schmolt's wife and son.  I made a point of working to include her in the conversation and also spent a decent amount of time helping their son construct robots and then a robot tower with the duplo blocks his parents had brought to help keep him entertained.  He was definitely pretty excited to tell me about what the robots would do and such!

After time for eating and mingling, President opened the informal meeting segment.  He started by telling us what he and Sister Moeller were up to.  They've been working in the Mesa temple since the mission where President is a Sealer, but they have recently felt the need to do more and have recently submitted their papers to serve another mission!  This news was met with general excitement, naturally.  Everyone is looking forward to hearing where they will be called.

President then asked that each of us come forward and give everyone an update on what we are up to these days.  It was nice to get to hear a bit about the missionaries I had served with and see how they'd changed, but there was an element of weirdness too.  I'm used to seeing and thinking of these people in reference to missionary service, and it threw me off somewhat to think about how far behind us all that really is right now, even though it still felt so fresh.  When my turn came up, it still seemed weird and somehow disobedient to introduce myself to that audience with my first name and no Sister title!

Elder Perez and his wife, who unfortunately doesn't seem to speak English, slipped in and sat at our table right before the program began, but as soon as it was completed, he started probing me an hour a minute about marketing after finding out that it's my profession when I introduced myself.  He has a flooring business and was looking for advice on how to grow it.  Though I don't know everything about his business, through finding a few things out from him, I was able to give him some good advice on free or cheap ways that he can better leverage the assets he already has like happy customers and low overhead.  I was glad that my experience and education allowed me to provide a valuable service to someone who I could see appreciated it and needed a hand.

Our conversation, by it's nature, was pretty exclusive and uninteresting to others, so after we'd talked for about half an hour, I realized everyone had left except for his wife who was silently waiting.  I felt bad for making her sit listening to something she couldn't understand with no interruption for so long, but though I made a simple greeting and apology to her in Spanish, I still regretted that the language barrier left her so out of things.  About this time, clean-up was starting, so I took that opportunity to wrap things up and go to lend a hand.

In the midst of my cleaning efforts, I got a chance to talk to another of my old comps, Flemming, who had come down with her husband, toddler, and baby all the way from Canada.  It was nice to catch up with her in some more depth and get to meet her family.  I remember thinking how funny their height difference was when I saw their engagement pictures and it only got more striking in person.  She's pretty short, but he's very tall.  I guess their kids will have to average out!

Sister Flemming in the middle wearing red.  Taken at my last mission BBQ shortly before I went home.

Palu and Godfrey came up as Flemming was leaving with her family, and we talked a bit, during which we arranged to get together and do a session in the Salt Lake Temple in a few weeks, which only seemed appropriate, since it was our mission temple.

Shortly after, I met President Moeller in the hallway and finally had a chance to visit with him face-to-face.  Though we were in the middle of way between the kitchen and gym, while we talked, no one was really around, which was good, because it was just like the penetrating interviews with him I remember from the mission.

Pretty quickly, he dug into my dating life.  I'm normally pretty good at deflecting those types of questions or spinning it such that it's less of a downer, but President was able to quietly see through that facade pretty quickly with just a few small questions and comments.  He listened with discernment to what I briefly tried to express of my struggles, self-doubts, and efforts to remain faithful and hopeful.  Then, he kindly gave me a few thoughts of encouragement and concern and asked me to keep him and Sister Moeller informed about my progress.  I knew that he had really understood not just what I said, but the hidden things of my heart as well, seeing through my carefully maintained composure.  I also knew that as on the mission, he found me acceptable even though I find it difficult to see myself that way.  The whole conversation only lasted about 5 minutes, but even if that had been the only blessing, it made the entire night worth whatever effort I put into it.

There was still a lot of cleaning to do, so I dived into it with a fury.  After an hour and a half or so, Pretty much everything was done and most everyone seemed to have left.  I ended up back in the gym, where I found the Moeller's mission albums and scrapbooks still on the stage.  The Nortons, my favorite senior couple that served in the office, were the last ones still there, Sister Norton went out to find her cell phone to call the Moellers while I waited in the gym.  While waiting to hear what needed to be done, I flipped through one of the books and found a birthday card Sister Richart and I had made for Sister Moeller during one of the happiest times of my mission when the work was great and we were always having fun.  It brought back a lot of memories to see it again,

When Sister Norton got back, she said each of the Moellers had thought the other had picked everything up and were already halfway to where they were staying.  They'd asked to pick everything up at the Norton's house, so I collected everything up and prepared to take it to their car.  Elder Norton went around and checked all the lights and doors in the meantime, even though he had to use a cane nowadays.  The Nortons are favorites of my for very good reasons, among which is their great dedication to serving the Lord in all things and at all times.  With that said, they still know how to have fun.  I was very pleased that I got to spend time with them during the clean-up, because I admire them so much.  I hope someday, I will be like them!

This was Elder Norton rescuing us when I locked our keys in the car on the mission.

It was just me and my thoughts on the way home, and while it was nice to have some time for reflection on the event, it did also end up in an unplanned cry-fest about halfway home.  I guess everything just kind of caught up with me, including feelings of being so far behind my peers in the things that matter most to me, the memory of my conversation with President, and no doubt the fact that I was pretty physically exhausted as well.  In the end, though, it was the loneliness that that made the tears so hard to shake off.  Most of the time, I can deal with it simply because I block it out, but I was already pretty emotionally vulnerable and it preyed on me more than I typically allow it to.  I had to push myself to give up the self-pity and focus on the many blessings that I have received, even that very evening.  Life is always full of plenty of disappointments and sadness, but it's no good to dwell on it.  Much better is focusing on all that the Lord has blessed us with, looking forward with an eye of faith.  Sometimes, we just need to forcefully remind ourselves of that.

It was a bit of a roller-coaster evening for me, with an unusual portion of both high and low points.  That said, I'm still really glad that I went.  I was sad that a number of my comps and other missionaries I was close to didn't come, even though I know they live nearby.  Hopefully, I will have a chance to meet with some of them in the future as well.  I was glad to have a chance to relive my mission a bit, even if only for an evening.  I still think about it and miss it, and it was nice to share in those memories with others.