We're Extending our Mission!

We felt prompted by the Spirit to consider extending our mission. Joanne and I have been praying and fasting and seeking advice from former missionaries in my same assignment as an Area Mental Health Advisor.  We also consulted with each of our children before making the decision. So, we have extended to July 2, 2021.

Serving a mission at our age held a lot of unknowns. We discovered more and more as our departure date came closer and especially once we arrived in Germany.  As a missionary, I wanted to believe that my service would make a difference somehow by helping people and building the Lord’s church.  Therefore, with hope and faith we pressed forward praying that everything would work out, trusting God. 

Once we arrived in Germany we started to understand what it meant to be a senior missionary.  As the awkwardness of living in a foreign country lessened, friendships with other senior couples began to grow.  Day by day I could see how my work was making a difference in people’s lives, one by one.  I have tried to follow the admonition of Alma in my role as a counselor when he said, “…are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort…”  Mosiah 18: 8-9.  My mission has meaning when I can help missionaries make it through their challenges and help them stay on their mission and thrive. Sometimes the best thing is for the missionary to return home early. Then I try to help them create a safe place with a plan to continue their healing.

Having been on our mission for 10 months now, I have seen the hand of the Lord over and over again in the work here and in my own work as I help the missionaries and their leaders.  Daily, I feel the Spirit guiding my words with missionaries, it is wonderful. 

My mission hasn’t changed as much with COVID-19 as it has for Joanne. She has lost her network of friends and associates in Germany, as well as her schedule of activities and classes, when the senior missionaries were evacuated four months ago.  We have hope that many will be able to return to Germany soon. 

A deciding factor for extending was my workload.  My days are very busy, usually seeing about six missionaries in addition to fielding calls from Mission Presidents and their wives or from people in the Missionary Department.  Currently, I counsel with missionaries in 11 of the 26 Europe Area Missions. I have also been serving as the chairman for the Europe Area Health Council where we discuss difficult missionary cases. The council includes all four of the AMHAs, (area mental health advisers) and three AMAs (area medical advisers), their wives, and a representative from the missionary department.

For instance, last Friday, July 10^th was an especially busy day. I met with missionaries by WhatsApp for about an hour each serving in the following missions: Italy Rome, two from England Leeds, Czech/Slovac, three from Italy Milan, Adriatic North, followed by a 90-minute Adriatic North Mission Health Council with the mission president, his wife, mission nurse and medical doctor missionary assigned to their mission. For each missionary, two emails are generated and an update to the missionary medical website.

By sharing my schedule, I don’t mean to brag or complain only to explain what my mission is all about. The Area is expanding our counseling resources by adding some returned Area Mental Health Advisers who still want to serve, but from home.  This has made it possible to share my counseling load and that has helped lighten up my schedule a little.

My commitment to Joanne in making this decision is that I would find a way to slow down and take better care of myself.  We are making progress on both. We try to go on an adventure each weekend whenever possible and we are exercising more.

Amazingly, the heavy counseling schedule has not burned me out.  The Lord sustains me and gives me strength to carry the load.  A wonderful young sister missionary serving in Croatia told me today that I must have “superpowers”.  She said, “How else can you listen to all of our problems all day and stay sane yourself?” Of course, my strength and whatever talent I possess for this work comes from God and he sustains me in it. 

Joanne has been an amazing support, encouraging me, loving me, being patient with me, and also learning to love the missionaries I serve.  I literally could not do what I do without her.  All the while, she is serving in the Europe Area Communications Department writing articles, making face masks to give to the needy, expanding her discipleship and connecting with the grandchildren.  She sent me on my mission to England 46 years ago and now we are companions!  I feel so blessed.

We both look forward with faith and hope that our labors in the remaining year of our mission will bless the lives of our missionaries and their leaders.  We pray every day for our children and grandchildren and believe that our labors in Europe are also blessing each of them. 

This is a sacred time for us. We are trying to consecrate our time and talents to serve God in the best way we know.  It is our hope that this collection of our thoughts will help people understand why we serve and why we have decided to extend our mission. We are grateful for the chance to serve as full-time missionaries and as disciples of Christ here in Europe.