I couldn’t believe how fast the six weeks at the MTC flew by! Before I knew it it was time for Elder Farner to leave the safety of the MTC and for him to go to the other side of the world.
I have spoken to other missionary moms and no matter if they are going to the USA or any other place in the world, it is a little scary to know that your child will now be out in the world. I have also spoken to returned missionaries and they told me that it was nice, but scary to be out of the MTC and out into the world.
I was nervous that my son was now going to out into the world and that he was going to be on the other side of it! The thought that my “little boy” was going to out of the USA without me! I was also excited because he was going to be able to call me from the airport.
I looked forward all day to receive the phone call from my son. I didn’t know exactly when he was going to call, so I was on standby all day.
Finally he called around 6 PM! It was nice to hear his voice, it had been six weeks since I had heard his voice! He sounded so happy, which makes me feel so relieved. He could only talk for a short time. He was at the Salt Lake City airport, and was on his way to LA. Where he will have a two hour layover, so he was going to try and call me once he gets there.
He did call from LA, and was able to talk for awhile. That was nice, and kind of bad. How can it be bad, you may be asking yourself. Don’t get me wrong it was very nice to talk to him, but the bad thing was it made me miss him even more when I had to say goodbye. It brought back all the feelings I had six weeks ago when I said goodbye to him at the MTC. I’m sure it was the same for him, so now I can totally understand why the church lets missionaries only call twice a year. It is nice to talk to them, but it is so hard to say goodbye again, and again.
Just to sum it up. It was nice to talking to him, but it brought back all the feelings of saying goodbye six weeks ago, and it was unnerving to know he was out of the safety of the MTC and was now on his way to the other side of the world. I couldn’t wait to hear from him again just to know how was the trip, how he is doing now being in the Philippines, and did he have a good trainer. I couldn’t wait to see an email from him, just like it was when he was first in the MTC. All of those feelings are the same.
So just be ready to have that happen to you. You may be feeling better about missing them, but then those feelings come slamming back like a title wave!