One year this week since I launched my firstborn child into the lone and dreary world...
knowing that she wouldn't be home for weekends and holidays. In fact, the only communication I would have with her for the next year and a half would be through letters, emails, and three periodic phone calls. She was leaving home to serve a mission. To teach the gospel. To serve the Lord. The questions hung in my heart: Was she ready? Did I teach her enough over these last 19 years to prepare her for everything she might have to face?
Well, ready or not, off she went. (figuratively leaping off a cliff! ...or so it seemed to me.)
...and do you know what? I have since discovered that she was better prepared than I even knew
for what lay ahead of her...
for what lay ahead of her...
and many of the lessons that prepared her did not even come from me! Imagine that!
Allow me to expand:
As an online high school graduate, she had learned time-management and computer tech skills that would allow her to use her one-hour-per-week-on-a-computer to its fullest. Every week we receive an extensive email with details about her week plus at least a dozen pictures attached. Besides that, she replies to emails and uses facebook account, when instructed by her Mission President, to promote the message of the gospel of Christ. Besides this, her alternate high school choice gave her the time and freedom to devote to piano studies. She has used her talents to bless those she serves. On her mission, she has produced three separate productions of "The Living Christ" using her organizational and musical talent to put together a program of music and words about the life of Christ. At the last event, more than 300 people attended! And she was able to share her testimony with them through music.
Secondly, she worked at an Assisted Living Center the year before she left home. This life experience taught her to love and cherish the elderly and to learn from them. On her mission, she has been able to connect with elderly folks--serving them, appreciating their wisdom, and spending time with them. I have received letters from a few older people in her areas, thanking me for sending such a choice daughter to them.
I have received several letters of gratitude from her regarding the way she was raised. Usually, this follows a description of someone's hard life she has encountered or an extremely messy house she was able to help clean. It is a paradox how when we experience hard things, we appreciate more fully the good in our life. She even mentioned being grateful for discipline in our home. These lessons have deepened as she has been away from everything she knew.
In conclusion, I believe that Heavenly Father prepares a way for us to accomplish the things he asks us to do. Like Nephi, I have become aware of the tender mercies of our Heavenly Father. He is my shepherd. He leads me along. And I am so grateful that he is leading my daughter along. Her service has blessed my life in so many ways. The gospel is true. Heavenly Father loves us and has a plan for our happiness. When we follow His plan, we will find joy and peace.
