Departing dear ones

We are approaching another transfer, and in this case, the departure of 11 missionaries.  For some time, the challenge has been the mechanics of getting large groups of arriving missionaries here, fed, interviewed and off with their trainers to their new areas.  The missionaries going home  have been in small groups. Now we are facing  larger groups of missionaries who are returning home.  Argh!  It is the nature of the game, that the ones leaving are the ones we have known longer and who are the leaders of the mission. 
The missionaries have a tradition that they call the missionaries that they train their hijos (children), but they extend it on farther.  When your hijo trains, you become 'abuelo'  (grandparent) to their trainee.  You see the pattern. Also, when your comp returns home, you 'kill' him or her.  You can see that there could be some real misunderstandings if the uninitiated overheard these conversations.   Anyway, my point is that this is a pattern in real life too.  We start out young, inexperienced, falling down a lot and generally not feeling successful, but with lots of energy and desire to do well.  Through life, we gain skill and capacity but usually lose some of our energy and maybe our passion cools a little too.  We get tired, maybe a little jaded, but because of our experience, we can still do the job, maybe even better that some of those following us.  The Lord lets us lose some of our capacity so that we have to let the next generation take over.  Still there are lots of people looking up to us and following in our footsteps.  Finally, we get to go home, back to the parents who sent us out on this mission.  There are painful farewells to the ones we have taught and served here in this life, but there are joyful reunions with those at home. 
Yes, I have mixed up the metaphor, probably because it is mixed in my head.  One of the missionaries who is returning home has been our AP, meaning we have worked closely with him for a long time (by mission standards), and we know and love all of the others too.  It is likely that we won't ever see the ones who live in other countries again in this life (although you can't be too sure of that).  You can see how hard it is to let them go.  They are just now getting so good at their jobs too.  The mission is a microcosm of real life.  We don't want to lose them, but it is time for them to go.  Their Moms are waiting for them.  Okay, now I am crying.  I have been the one waiting for my child to come home too.  They are nervous to go home, having to choose careers, spouses, get on with life, just as they were nervous when they left for their missions.  The solution is to trust Heavenly Father in everything.  He knows all things.  He wants the best for us.  Just trust Him!
As Rod has been saying a lot lately when these dear kids go home and our hearts break a little, the answer is more love.  Love those who are near more fondly, broaden  and deepen the pool of those you love.  That is how to heal your heart. That, and he plays 'God be With You' in a minor key. (He uses 3 flats for a piece written in C and it sounds most somber.) 

That's enough of that!
I woke up on Valentines day to these beautiful flowers.

The only sad part is that my sweetie ended up spending the whole day and late into the night at the office, working on the transfer.  Lucky for me, every day is valentine's day.

Meanwhile the sisters and I made cookies for investigators.  Sister R and Sister N are leaving next week and Sister C will train.

 We had the Fuen Elders over for dinner last week.  I don't think I have ever had anyone more appreciative of a meal than Elder E.

This is the meme I made.  The caption is "Look to the source of life and light"

Back story: Rod surprised  me with these flowers, just cause I commented on how pretty they were.  He is so good at making me feel appreciated.  After a few days they wilted, except for one flower which held out strong and didn't wilt.  It made me think of how often the world directs all our attention toward the sad, depressing, dirty parts of life.  They weigh us down and we lose hope.  The Savior asks us to look to Him, and He will lift us and give us all we need for happiness.  While our feet may be anchored in the dirt, we can still look toward the light and live.  Look at that....  All philosophical and stuff.
In other Feb news, I went on a hike (she called it a walk... Those Brits) last Fri with a sister from our Fuen branch while Rod worked in the office.  We had a nice visit, saw some beautiful views, and I got sore knees.  I have some photos, but I can't find them on the computer, even though I down loaded them.  I will have to get one of the children to tell me where they are.  My knees recovered after a couple of days.  Thank you, Geneva for the exercises, they really are helping.  I am hoping to go on 'walks' with Sister Bruna on a regular basis.  It's a good plan.  We will see how it works.