Garrett Came Home!

Yesterday was Susanna's birthday--she turned 15. It was a good day for her and she enjoyed presents and a special family dinner with French Silk Pie for dessert. She is looking forward to getting her learner's driving permit!

It was a little extra special day because our son Garrett came home from his mission that night. A little before 10pm (so late for my youngest two to be up--we didn't get home until past midnight) we all got in our van and drove up to the airport. After a short wait, soon we saw our son Garrett coming down the escalator with 4 other missionaries. Garrett has been serving in the Ukraine Dnepropetrovsk Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the past two years. He really enjoyed being a missionary and grew a lot in his spiritual and emotional maturity. He was so positive in his emails home every week and it was fun to read them.

Here is Garrett, hugging his brother whom he hadn't seen for over 3.5 years, because he left before Jan got home from his mission.

He got released the next morning bright and early. Here he is removing his picture from the stake mission board.

Everyone wondered how safe he was over there. I couldn't blog about him because of strict privacy laws in east Europe that could get the church kicked out of Ukraine if we violated them. But whenever people asked, I would tell him he was safe, as far as I knew! He did get emergency evacuated out of Crimea in late February 2014 when the Russians decided to move in and take over. The church had to close the mission right next to his because of the violence and war. The church considered closing Garrett's mission too but his mission president fought hard to keep it open. Fortunately the war didn't spread but the church let the missionary numbers get very low--they didn't send new missionaries to replace the ones that went home. When Garrett left yesterday, the mission had less than 30 missionaries--when he arrived two years ago, there were about 80. But this week 14 new missionaries are arriving in the mission so they're moving forward with the work in this area.

I feel so sad for the people of Ukraine and all the hard times they must be having in their country. But I felt glad that the missionaries and the church are trying to help people make positive changes in their lives to become the people that God wants them to be. The gospel of Jesus Christ brings peace and happiness. I'm so grateful Garrett could be a part of that in Ukraine for the last two years.

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