A blast from two pasts

While cleaning out my closet a while back I happened upon Grandpa Rex's mission journal.  I have no idea why we even had it and what it was doing in my closet.  I flipped through it and a thought came to my little head.  I headed downstairs and grabbed Trevor's mission journal and on a whim decided to act on my little thought.  This little whim turned into a very meaningful, insightful and spiritual evening for our family. 

I love when that happens.

My little thought was this: 

Let's take these two mission journals and have each of the kids look up their birthdays in both of them and read what happened on those days, the future birthdays of their still in heaven children and grandchildren.   We gathered in the basement one Sunday night and we opened up these precious journals from the great Germany Hamburg mission and the mighty Colorado Denver mission, and the birthday reading began. 

Here is what we learned:

First of all we were delighted to find out that both missionaries served over a Leap Year.  And not only that, but both missionaries dutifully wrote in their journals on February 29th.  Now that's pretty lucky.

February 29, 1964- "Leap Day"  The lessons in German were coming slow.

February 29, 1988-  It was a P-day and dad listened to Chariots of Fire on his walkman (the kids laughed for about 20 minutes picturing dad rocking out with a walkman, that is once we explained to them what a walkman was)  Also, an investigator claimed to have seen the first vision movie by ESP.  He claimed Joseph Smith had a sunburned face and he floated over a field.

March 30, 1964-  It was a P-day for Grandpa.  He toured older parts of Hamburg Germany.  He also wrote a letter to Nancy and said, "I still wonder about her sometimes." 

March 30, 1988- Dad was up at 5:00 a.m.  He saw the Denver Temple, met his new companion, wants to work at the M.T.C. when he gets home (which he did for 3 years) and wrote in bold letters "I LOVE MY MISSION!"

May 16, 1964- Grandpa practiced his songs for the mission conference.  He claims his solo was flat.  He also taught a "4th" and someone decided quite suddenly to be baptized.

May 16, 1989- Dad greeted a new set of missionaries, played the piano, conducted a meeting, visited an investigator and ate free at Burger King.  He said, "The church is true! I love my mission!  I am so blessed!"

August 18, 1964- Grandpa tracted, taught a 1st discussion and wrote letters.  He and his companion also took "goofy" pictures with their cameras.

August 18, 1988  P-day for dad.  He went running and played tennis.  He delivered a birthday card (it was his idea to give birthday cards to all the members of the ward) and had a lunch appointment.  He ended the day listening to a tape from Joel and being grateful for the good friends he has.

September 1, 1964- Grandpa got a letter from Merlin and Sally telling him that they were "in love"  He was on a spiritual high after receiving that letter from home.  He also said he knew Nancy was the one for him (how do you feel about that Grandma?)  He closed with this quote, "I could have kissed the whole world!"

September 1, 1988- "We are puny, unpowerful wastes of time here on this earth as missionaries!"  That's how his entry started.  He was very discouraged, very down, very depressed.  A hard day in the Colorado Denver mission, that's for sure.

October 28, 1963 Today was the first official day of Grandpa's great mission in Germany.  He was up at 6:00 a.m.  and was instructed by Richard L. Evans and Boyd K. Packer.  He also attended a foot care class.  He was very excited to be starting the best 2 1/2 years of his life.

October 28,  1988- Dad carved pumpkins at a members house after their dinner appointment.  They gave them a gallon of apple juice to take home and a bag of candy with a $20 bill inside.  Dad was thrilled.  He also did more birthday visits, handed out BOM's and phamplets and studied.

November 26, 1964-  Grandpa attended a district conference on this Thanksgiving day.  He thought a lot about his family who were probably cutting up the turkey as he wrote.  He, wrote, "I am thankful for my many many blessings, especially my family and my testimony.  MY CUP RUNNETH OVER!"

November 26, 1987- Thanksgiving Day!  Dad went to a members house for a Thanksgiving feast, then went to another member's house for another Thanksgiving feast, then went to yet another house for a final Thanksgiving dinner.  Yep, that's our dad!

Together these two great missionaries journaled over 1,460 days. 

 

And out of those 1,460 days we chose only 7 special days to read.  And even though we only read 14 entries, we learned.  We learned a lot.  My kids learned that missionaries get up early, they tract a lot, they need to take care of their feet, they are asked to play the piano, they may get to celebrate certain holidays or they may not.  They learned that learning a language can be hard, that girlfriends may not last, that the spirit testifies and converts people.  They learned the importance of writing and receiving letters, that good friends and their examples are still important, and that some days on a mission can be very very discouraging.  They learned how important members are to the missionaries, that companions can be frustrating, that you can do fun things on p-days and they learned what a walkman was. 

 

 But most importantly, they learned that their Grandpa and their dad were valiant missionaries.  Valiant missionaries who worked hard, never gave up and who testified daily of the truthfulness of this glorious gospel.  Valiant missionaries who truly loved their missions.

And to that I say:

 

Hoorah For Israel!
 

And Hoorah for journals!