Claire is making the grand return from her mission morning. In a matter of a few hours to be exact. And there aren’t enough emojis and exclamation marks for that. In a matter of a couple short hours our arms will be flinging wide open to greet each other at the airport.
My heart has been beating outside of my chest for the last little while in great anticipation of this day. I mean, is there really a real, physical girl that we get back bringing energy and excitement into our lives with her unique light? It’s hard to even comprehend after all this time away.
I often think of this quote:
“Making the decision to have a child – it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.“
–Elizabeth Stone
And Oh! It is so true. Because a mother’s heart is tethered to her child forever.
Even (or especially!) when they’re on the other side of the world.
I cannot wait to sit down with her and have her spill out every single detail in all the pictures she’s sent. Here are some of the latest ones:
As I have reflected on these past eighteen months, I feel such an incredibly profound sense of gratitude for all the people who have surrounded Claire with love.
Who have hugged her and buoyed her when I couldn’t. All her companions who have taught her priceless lessons. Her incredible mission presidents (two sets). Her new friends, the ward members, her siblings, random strangers who have been so kind and helped her in times of need.
It’s such a beautiful thing to have a village…love the one she’s found in Australia.
Adventure after adventure I tell you!
Claire’s Last Email
I wanted to share, before she arrives home, some snippets of her last letter.
Because I sat in the car and read it through tears. How do you even try to wrap up such a journey? I love it through her words.
Hoooollllyyyy cow. way too many emotions right now. My very last email ever.
Ive been in denial about leaving my mission so it just still doesnt feel real but here we go.
my last church on sunday was one i will forever remember. They sang “god be with you til we meet again” then they came and gave me hugs
then had a graduation party???? They put me in a cap and gown so theres that. Sister lam said i spiritually graduated.
She told about her last week. Filled with so many new and old people to love.
Then this next part:
WOW these past 18 months have been so speical to me.
My mission means everything to me. I have never grown so much in such a short time. Because of my mission, i know my purpose at such a deeper level.Oh boy it was hard.
So tired, so stressed, feeling inadequate with learning a new language, talking to random people on the street, trying to eat unfamiliar chicken feet and lambs brain, making plans and back up plans and back up back up plans, communicating with companions, accidentally saying “pig feet” instead of “bishop”, getting rejected 100 times a day, and sooooo much more.
But the hard things make us grow, “the stronger the wind, the stronger the trees.”
Top 10 things ive learned:
-its not about you or what you want, its always gods will first. When we dedicate our souls to him, when we just want what he wants, our life is happier
-everything comes down to love. We love god so we are obedient, we care for his children, we go to church, we serve. When we love, everything becomes that much easier
-chinese culture is the absolute greatest
-be kind
-its good to have questions. studying with questions is the absolute greatest thing. It makes our testimonies stronger
-simply just the belief in god makes us better people
-everyone has a story, listen to it, learn from them, love them, and help them heal
-diligence and dedication to goals we set, is a life changer
-communication is so incredibly important. communicate, and stand in the other persons shoes, try to get where they are coming from. communicating does wonders
-everyone in the world should go on a mission, it trulllllyyy will change you in so many waysI will be giving my homecoming talk this sunday!!! (Yes fast sunday) march 2
I would love to see yous❤️🩹❤️🩹Love you all so much, thank you for the love and support
See you soon😇😇😇
Thanks for taking us along for the ride, Claire Bear.
We’ll be waiting with hugs at the airport!
Claire’s mission
- Receiving her mission call
- Temple & Farewell for Claire
- Missionary “hotseat” send-off
- An “official” missionary and Home MTC
- A “pre-mission” trip (this was before all that hoopla above, but still fun to reminisce!)
- How life was leading up to Claire’s mission (baby Murphy especially, who is now a giant toddler!)
- Other posts about Claire’s mission
Okay, but that “graduation party” is adorable! It means so much when others go out of their way to celebrate our children. Congrats to your family and hope you have such a happy reunion!
I’m with you, it’s the best thing in the world when you see people encircling your kids with love.
XOXO
why is her talk on a fast Sunday & not just later?
I’m not LDS, are talks not usually given on a fast Sunday? And if not is there a specific type of service for them instead? Always love to learn about other customs.
Yes, once a month we have a “Fast and Testimony Meeting,” which has a slightly different structure than a normal sacrament meeting. It follows the same structure for the first ~20 minutes, then instead of prepared talks it’s “open mic” for 35 minutes. Anyone in the congregation can get up and share their testimony.
Fast and testimony meetings are usually on the first Sunday of the month but this is not super strict – it gets moved around a few weeks per year if another type of meeting is scheduled over it (like general conference or a local/regional conference). Sometimes the week before and sometimes the week after, depending on local preference.
I have not ever heard of a prepared talk being scheduled for a fast and testimony meeting, like Claire is doing here. But sometimes exceptional circumstances are granted to accommodate individual members and families. Baby blessings are generally scheduled for fast Sundays, but if grandma can only come at the end of the month you can bless your baby then. Youth baptisms are generally on Saturday mornings but if Dad works every day but Thursday you can arrange for the baptism to be Thursday night. I could imagine that if Claire only has one week before heading straight back to school or something, they’d have her give her homecoming talk on a Fast Sunday. My guess is that there will be special family visitors in town and this is the only week they could all make it.
Thank you Liz for this awesome explanation. I so appreciate it since I haven’t been at my computer at all for the last week. Yes, homecoming talks don’t generally take place on Fast Sunday, but in this case, since all the siblings were here and Claire will not be around much after this, it worked out this way.
xoxo
Oh my goodness, I love this so much – “everything comes down to love. We love god so we are obedient, we care for his children, we go to church, we serve. When we love, everything becomes that much easier.” Thank you for sharing.
I love it too:)
xoxo
Is Claire’s homecoming talk going to be live-streamed? I would love to listen in.
Me too.
Darn it, I’m sorry I didn’t get these questions before Sunday. It was live-streamed and I put the link on Instagram, but didn’t think to put it here. I do have a recording of her talk that I’ll share when I share pictures from Sunday. Hopefully soon!
XOXO
Thank you so much for this detailed answer, Liz! I just assumed they give their talk the first weekend home while it is all still fresh, so I greatly appreciate your taking the time to explain this to me and anyone else unfamiliar with the LDS meeting structure.
Is it common for these young adults to jump right back into normal life or do they get to decompress at home for a bit?
Thanks again!
You bet! Glad it helped 🙂
The amount of decompression time depends on the missionary, the date they return, and what life plans they already have scheduled. I’d say it’s pretty typical to take a few weeks off and then either get a job or go back to school.
My husband, however, had only 4 or 5 days at home between his return and moving out of state for his sophomore year of college. That is considered exceptionally short and is quite rare, but he preferred that to waiting an extra semester at home and being off-track from the regular semester schedule. I think if his mom got to choose she would have preferred he stay at home that semester instead of jet right off again, but alas.
Missionaries return dates are determined by their leave dates. If a young woman left in June of one year she’ll return in December of the next year, for example. A young man who leaves in July will return in July two years later.
On your mission application you indicate the earliest date you’ll be ready to leave – after your school finishes for the year/semester, after a scheduled family reunion, etc. The mission office will assign you a “report date” on or after that availability date. I assume that date has to do with the logistics of when the next cohort of missionaries is headed to your mission location.
Usually your report date is within a couple of months of your availability date, but occasionally it’s a longer wait. If you put that you were available June 25, thinking you’d get back in the summer two years later, but then your report date isn’t until October, that may mess up your plans to go straight back to school after you return. Maybe that missionary will travel or hang out at home for a few months until winter semester starts, or maybe they’ll get a job for the year and go back to school next fall. It all depends!
Thank you! This is so informative. I completely understand jumping right back into things when timing dictates but it’s nice that they have the option to settle in at home for a bit as well.
The one woman I know who served a mission did so maybe a decade ago or so and she finished college a semester early to head out on hers which made a lot of sense timing wise. I suppose there’s never a “good” time to pick up for 18 months but that is part of the personal sacrifice of going.
Thanks again Liz! And SJ, yes, you’re right, never a really great time to step away for 18 months or two years. But it all seems to work out.
xoxo
I’d love for you to do a post “ day in my life” with time stamps, I need to know how you do it all!
Dang
I just CANNOT WAIT to hear about the reunion! So happy for your family!
I posted about it today, it was the best!!
xoxo