Home one year

So my two last companions from the mission field are coming home in a week! That is super crazy to me! I have been writing both of them letters about coming home and my time with them and I thought I would share the experience with all of you.

You should only be reading this if you are on the plane on your way home. I can only imagine what is going through your mind at this time. I know I felt like it was a dream.  New England was my home and there was no where else I could imagine being.   It had felt that life in Utah, with my family and friends, was the dream and that being the missionary was who I had always been.

On the plane ride home I sat between two Elders on both flights that was really fun.  Elder  Connolley kept try to make contacts with people waiting in line for the bathroom. (Don’t do that!) It was really funny to watch him trying desprately to hold on to the life he had grown to love. Funny and sad because I felt the same way but also understood that whether I liked it or not my mission was pretty much over.   :(

Transfer meeting is still one of the most bitter sweet memories of my life. I kept my cool the whole drive down from Rutland. I hadn’t had much sleep and was exhausted. I couldn’t sleep though because I was super nervous about what the next “transfer” would hold for me.

I remember hugging people over and over again. My heart ached when we stood and sang all three versus of “called to serve”. I can still here it in my head.

CALLED TO SERVE THE PEOPLE OF NEW ENGLAND

WITH THE GOSPEL OF A LOVING GOD

TEACHING PREACHING UNTO TRUE REPENTANCE

HELP THEM HOLD THE IRON ROD.

You, Melissa and Krystal (Filippelli) were holding me close trying to comfort me.  My heart broke when they called my name and asked me to leave the chapel while the transfer was to continue on. I can’t explain that feeling. It was a hurt I hadn’t felt before and haven’t felt since.

Natalie (Hess) and I didn’t fit into the van and were able to stay in the chapel for sometime and visit with the missionaries. It was weird that already I didn’t feel like I was a part of the mission. It broke my heart. I was so super sad.

As you have now learned the time in the mission office wasn’t super fun but then we got to go to the temple. The temple was an amazing place to be able to go.  I hope that you all still got that option. I found so much peace and tranquility there.  To be able to pray in the Celestial room and offer up my service to the Lord in that way was an experience I shall always treasure. I remember how excited I was to be able to talk to Sis. Jensen in the Celestial room.   Her gospel knowledge is something I think I will always aspire to attain.  She is a genius!

We had dinner in the mission home and I loved that. The food was good the company so uplifting. However since we were such a large group and left late to the temple and arrived home late our testimony meeting was uber short.

President Jensen asked us to each take one minute to bare out testimony of the Savior and his Atonement. To be able to hear such personal testimonies from my DL, ZL, AP and dear friends was an amazing experience and one I still hold very close to my heart.

The A.P.’s came to take Elders to their place. Natalie and I both were feeling so scared and alone. President and Sister Jensen allowed us to sit at the piano and sing hymns to comfort our souls. We soon went down to bed and had companionship prayer and then both stayed on our knees til well after midnight. I was so scared to be reentering the world. :D

The next morning I woke up at six a.m. it’s as if my body understood what was going on much more fully than I did. We were both ready by 6:45, a huge accomplishment for 2 sisters who are doing there best to look awesome when they arrive home! We wondered around the kitchen and barely ate anything due to nerves. 

I remember we both tried so hard to study our scriptures that morning to take advantage of our fleeting time to have the missionary spirit!

The flight went by so quickly. IT was fun. When we started flying over Utah and saw two churches across the street from each other, we started laughing so hard. This was not something we were used to.

While everyone else hugged goodbye Elder Luke and I just booked it towards the escalator. Now remember we were returning to the SLC airport and there were several not NHMM missionaries on our plane as well as other planes landing at the same time. We talked about how much we respected the others who had been out there. He said ladies first and all the sudden I was facing, literally, over a thousand people. And then my family started screaming my name, the niece and nephews came running and I remembered what being home felt like.

We did end up going to the Spghetti factory and I almost had an anxiety attack being surrounded by more people than the town of Rutland could even dream of having. I was released in the Church Office Building the first night of viewing for President Hinckley so that was a really cool experience.

That is what happened when I came home. I went on to learn that night who my future husband would be. I had breakdowns where being in the world was too hard and I just wanted to be back in Vermont so bad. I had other days where the mission seemed like a dream because I had become so used to “normal” life.

Remember that this is your time. Feel the feelings, good or bad, they are yours to feel and to experience. We all go through the transitions differently.  We all want different things when we come home. We all miss the mission in different ways and for different reasons. 

Your mission is yours and yours alone. That is the amazing thing about it. Only you will remember it in that way.  That is one of my favorite things about it. Its nice to have such a long period of your life that is yours.