I hope they call them on a mission.

In our church there has been a lot of excitement in the last six months over the mission ages being lowered for both men and women. Boys may now leave at 18 and girls at 19. This has caused a huge  growth in the number of sisters putting their papers in to serve full time missions. I love the fact that my girls will grow up in the church with lots of sister missionaries serving in our area. Growing up, I only knew of a few girls who went. I always wanted to go, but I was married at 21, which was the previous age requirement. As soon as that announcement was made, I thought of my kids. My daughter in 15 months older than her brother, They could both leave at the same time! I quickly calculated and told Darryl we could have a joint mission farewell for them in November 2027! How awesome would that be! And kids always do exactly what their mothers plan for them, right? (I can dream, can't I?)

I really hope and pray regularly that my son and my daughters will serve full time missions. My husband, his brother, his grandparents, my brother, have all served wonderful and honourable missions and I really hope my kids will follow their example.

My recent thoughts on the subject have a lot to do with the fact that I  found out I have ancestors who joined the church while in Scotland. More on that another time, but I just think it is so awesome that my cousins were taught the gospel by missionaries, then over 100 years later my mom was taught that same message by the missionaries. Through those missionaries, the Spirit was able to testify to both of them of the truthfulness of this gospel. And I can't think of anything much better than that.

So we had a little FHE on the topic and the kids were all about it. But they had a few stipulations:

1. They wanted to go to Las Vegas, Palmyra or Bradford.
2. Darryl and I had to go with them.

3. Chlo wants to be a tooth fairy for awhile first.
4. Carter wants to see Monster Jam one more time.

It was really fun. We pulled out all of Darryl's old mission stuff, tags,maps, pictures, etc. and they loved it. I hope as they grow up and we talk about a mission as a "when" and not an "if" that their desire to serve will grow and be as real for them as it is for me.

I know this gospel is true and everything good in my life is because of it. I want our home to be a place where people will feel the Spirit. I want to take that Spirit outside of these walls and share it. And spread it. I want it to be easy for my kids to talk about gospel principles in a loving way that makes people want to know more. I want to set a better example for them by sharing what I believe more often. It was something I was really good at when I was younger. I would share the gospel with anyone who would listen. But now as I get older, my circle seems to get smaller and includes a lot of people who believe the same things I do, which doesn't go well with the "Broaden and Contribute" mentality I am trying to implement around here. But hopefully we can all do a little better and I can prepare my kids not only for a full time mission, but a lifetime of missionary work.