We're Coming Home!

We are entering the last few days of our mission. It is hard to believe that we will be home on the last day of this month, 28 February. We are so excited to be with our dear family and feel their arms around us. It will be hard to leave our remarkable friends here in Germany and leave the wonderful work we have come to love. It will forever be a part of our heart and life.

It is a time of deep gratitude for many people and things.

 Words of comfort and love from our grandchildren.

Family that have prayed for us, listened to us, and encouraged us. They shared their lives with us even though we are thousands of miles apart. They comforted us by reminding us that they are blessed through our consecrated missionary service.

Faithful, courageous missionary couples who come to consecrate their lives to the service of the Lord for 18-23 months. They shared their faith and testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, their joys and sorrows, their fears and successes, and their love with us. 

Adventures we never dreamed of - getting trapped in the train station at night in Milan, walking the colorful streets of Cape Verde, hearing many languages, but feeling the same love and gratitude from people all over Europe. Finding and savoring a new flavor of gelato in every new city, learning to sleep on beds that are about as soft as the floor, dining on wild boar and stag roast within the view of a castle, bravely and independently finding our way in countries we have never been in before, and working with people that give their whole lives helping the poor and needy.

Rejoicing in temple ordinances and binding covenants in the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Switzerland, and feeling our family beyond the veil close to us and very real.

Working on the road on our laptop from wherever we are.

Working at our desk in the area office, being delivered in our weakness to do scary things and make important decisions, doing new things and becoming more capable, even in things we did not always want to be capable of doing. 

Most of all coming to know and love each other and our Heavenly Father and our Savior in ways beyond what we imagined. We will be forever grateful and forever changed!