Returning to the Past

A phrase has been coined that: "you can never go home," because that place you called home will always be different in your mind that what you find in reality. Well, it is official that we are moving back to a version of "home." My kids are not this little any more, sigh, and the island of Guam maybe not so tranquil, and good friends have moved away, and family not likely to visit, but we are returning there nonetheless with hope and good spirits that we will find some of the happy memories we left behind, still waiting to be picked up and dusted off.

Steve received a promotion a month back, and he was selected as the new supervisor for Guam and Micronesia. The plan is to be on Guam for two years, and then move on to be the Legat in another post in Europe (maybe France or Italy) or South America (Argentina). But as always, we go where Heavenly Father wants us to go and make a "home."

I truly love my siblings and extended family and my God and country, and that love grows nothing but stronger while living in a foreign country, but there is something planted in us, (from our lineage, desire from God) to share the gospel with the nations of the earth. I have never viewed myself as smart or knowledgeable enough to teach people worthwhile skills. But I have found that the simple things I learned as a child: to sort and grind wheat, to make bread, to put away food storage, to take care of your body with exercise, to have a tiny testimony that God is very real and very lovingly aware of all of us... I have shown these things over and over to Saints, YW and children around the world, and I have seen the blessings in other's lives by them taking the small, inconsequential things I have shown them and them picking it up and running with it--- and magnifying their lives and those around them. I am not self- congratulating or taking any credit for anything by any means, but explain this only in the hope that you understand that we don't take lightly living away from family or the U.S. We were truly sad we missed the family reunion this year. But if you could see the way the Italian primary children lit up when Steve taught them Sunday School in Italian or the gratitude that the ward members expressed for Steve loving them enough to leave home to teach them the gospel, in their own tongue, while he was on a mission and the past 4 years, or all the good Steve has done in Italy and the U.S. with his job, you would see the sacrifice to constantly "go forth to serve," and to love and our "brother and sisters" around the world, who have not had all the opportunities that we enjoy as American, was worth it all.

So maybe we can 'never go home,' but rest assured we can certainly visit, and visit we will.