Mother's Day Phone Calls

Mother's Day is a special event for any mother, but for those with sons and daughters out on missions, it is especially exciting. We began our evening by calling Travis (Elder Nuttall) in Japan. I was worried because I couldn't get through and couldn't understand the Japanese voice on the other end of the phone. So, I called a ward member who spoke Japanese and she told me that I was getting his answering machine. She suggested that his companion was on the phone with his family. I waited a while and tried back. Travis answered! He sounded so great. He has that missionary enthusiasm. Everything is amazing, awesome, and he is so excited to be serving the Lord. He said that he can speak Japanese pretty well, but cannot understand much of what is said. About 15 minutes into his call, my cell phone rang. It was Seth! Seth sounded much farther away...the connection on the phone was not as clear. He got cut off a couple of times. He sounded great....humble and mature.

Seth is having the opposite experience with Spanish as Travis is with Japanese. He can understand everyone, but has trouble speaking. Both boys sounded like themselves, I was wondering if they would sound totally different from what I remember. Their voices were familiar, and the things they shared made me feel at peace with them being so far away.

We managed to trade two phones around the house for the next 30 minutes. Everyone spoke to everyone and we ended the calls by putting Seth and Travis on speaker and letting them speak to each other. What a blessing this was for them. They have not spoken since Travis left last October. They enjoyed the time to talk. It felt like the family was all back together again. If I were to close my eyes and just listen...we were all back in the kitchen as a family. It was wonderful and a little bit sad at the same time.

Travis has had his first baptism. Baptisms are not common in Japan, so this is a big event for him. He was thrilled to have taught someone the gospel and see them progress to baptism. Seth has had many baptisms, the work moves more quickly in the Dominican Republic. Seth mentioned that the names of people are so long that it makes it tricky when someone is baptized! How different the missions are. How different the boys experiences have been. Yet, they fit the personalities and strengths of each of them perfectly. These are the tender mercies that I am so thankful for.

Happy Mother's Day!