Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Belated Mother's Day

I had a nice mother's day Sunday. The tradition at our house is that my husband and the kids cook dinner. And it's always good! My daughter also made a big banner with tracings of the kids' handprints, but also paw prints and tail prints from the animals. lol

I kept having people ask me if my son was going to call from El Salvador. Missionaries are allowed to call home at Christmas and on Mother's Day. But my son didn't say anything about it, and he has mentioned that he has one of the stricter mission presidents, so I thought maybe he wasn't allowed. But in his letter yesterday he mentioned that he would be calling last night. When we talked to him, he said that one reason he didn't call on Sunday was that they were busy with appointments and didn't have time. But another reason is that he had forgotten to buy a phone card, and didn't want to buy it on Sunday. I noticed on my calendar that Monday is Mother's Day in Mexico, and figured it was also the same in El Salvador, which it is. So technically he still called on Mother's Day. ;)

What we usually do is turn on the speaker phone so the whole family can talk to him. He bought a 50 minute phone card for $5.00! Wow, am I just not up with current technology, or is that cheap? And yes, we talked for the full 50 minutes. lol I'm glad the whole family was involved because everyone had different questions they wanted to ask.

It was nice to hear that his spanish accent has improved. lol I noticed in his letter that small spanish influences have creeped in to his English already. I served my mission in Taiwan, but that language is so different from English, that returning missionaries don't have much problem switching back to English. But the spanish speaking missionaries struggle a little. The words are just so close to English that it's hard to separate them in the brain. I have to admit though, even now, some 25+ years later, if I can't think of a word in English, my brain searches out the chinese section and finds it there. Then all I have to do is translate and I can think of the word. lol

I think some people find it odd that we would willingly send our son on a mission to a foreign country. As I've thought about this, I've felt that part of the reason, besides the religious reason, is that it is part of our Mormon culture. We grew up with brothers and sisters, or cousins serving in foreign countries. We we have known the mission rules from our childhood, so we know that missionaries don't call home, and parents don't go visit them. Having been a missionary myself, I totally understand the wisdom in this. It really help the missionary to leave his other life behind and focus totally on serving the Lord. Missionaries still write letters home though, and that helps keep the family ties strong. Sometimes I look at a mission like a tithe. We give up that 1 1/2 to 2 years of our life to the Lord, and then He blesses us emmensly in return. Most people refer to it as "the best two years of my life". I don't know that it was the best two years....marriage and children give that, but it ranks in the top years. :)

3 comments:

Nene said...

I don't want my kids to get the wrong idea about this comment, but when we were in Ireland, one time I had come back from a trip to the States. One of the missionary couples came up to me (she was very homesick) and said to me that I was so lucky to be able to go home and visit. I told her that it was great to see everyone, but that I totally understood why the church didn't let missionaries go home to visit. For one thing, you get caught up in your life back home, and then have to give it up (again) to go back to the foreign country where you live. I used to think (and I even wrote a blog on it but never published it) that I "led 2 lives". There used to be an old tv program with that title. My life in Ireland was very different from my life in the States. Even though it was nice to go home, sometimes I wondered if it would be easier to not go home and not have to go through the adjustment period again and again.

Silver Strands said...

Glad you had a sweet Mother's Day and that you got to talk with your son. So far, only my oldest son has served (Russia) ... 2 more years and I'll have another on a mission. It's such a sweet time, but nothing is as sweet as those phone calls!

Becky said...

I'm so glad you enjoyed your phone call. Jeff's current companion is from Mexico, and he made his phone call on Monday. It all works out!