I'm currently sitting surrendered by trees on the beautiful Loyola Retreat and Ecology Center Campus in Woodstock, Illinois (Chicago Area). Our family is spending the week here with other missionaries, their families and staff from Chicago. Every two years, long term missionaries do something called homestay. This is when we visit you, our sponsors, supporters, friends, and family.
We talk with the bishop, we learn how to communicate better with you, we learn how to do boring paper work correctly, we meet with staff, and we eat a lot. But we also spend time catching up with old friends and sharing the excitement of going out with new missionaries. We spend time with "our people." These are the people that understand our joys and burdens the best, because they have similar experiences.
My favorite missionaries are the children. Our two year old daughter has completely abandoned us for the other missionary kids. She cried through worship this morning because she wanted to go play with her new friends. It's been a joy to see our friends children grow and mature. It's been a blessing to sit down together and share meals.
This is our family. These are our people.
