“Sister Lodwig, this is president Lopez, Elder Farner’s mission president. I need to talk to you about Elder Farner. I will call you back soon.” A voice mail that brought fear to my heart! Why did I have to miss that call, and now I have to wait for his mission president to call me back, because I had no way of calling the Philippines!
All kinds of thoughts were going through my mind! What happened? I knew that for the mission president to call me all the way from the Philippines it had to be something very important! I couldn’t wait for him to call me back. I think it was only a few minutes, but it felt more like forever! I can’t speak for all missionary moms, but I’m pretty sure there isn’t a missionary mom that would be happy to get a call from their child’s mission president. We all know that they usually only call with bad news.
FINALLY he called back! He needed to tell me that my son had a medical problem that would require surgery! He reassured me that it wasn’t anything really bad, and that he could have the surgery there in Manila, and return back to the mission field as soon as me recovers.
My first thought was gratitude for it not being so bad. Then my next thought was, is it ok to have surgery in the Philippines? That’s where faith comes in. I have to remember that our Heavenly Father is watching over His missionaries, and what ever happens, it will be for the best.
Not every missionaries will need to have surgery, or anything like that, but that never stops a mom from worrying. We don’t like not being able to talk to our kids whenever we want, and just look forward to the emails once a week, and the two phone calls a year.
Even though you may worry( you will worry, that’s normal), I hope that you don’t let that worry overtake the joy that certainly can come as being a missionary mom. Remember that your child, or children are being prayed for by so many, and besides the leaders of the church, the missionaries are the most prayed for people on this earth!
There will be things to worry about, besides the surgery my son had, he also had to deal with one of the most dangerous typhoons that have ever been on this earth, plus all of the other things no one ever let’s us know about. I just had the peace that came to me that I know that our Heavenly Father is in charge and your child is exactly where they are supposed to be. All will be well! Don’t let the worry rob your JOY!