we started out with a trip down south to provo. now provo is home of the unspeakable university that we don't like to give any time of day to, but every once and awhile we grace "the bubble", as is it often referred to, with our presence (and then we quickly leave and get back to God's Country in cache valley). so as all the crazy cougars made their way north for the big football game we headed to their turf for pretty darn good reason if you ask me.
you see at the young age of 19 my amazing farm boy slash husband devoted two years of his life to spreading the gospel in the san bernadino area of california. in the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints it is often called serving a mission and many young men and women leave their home every year to completely give of themselves to the Lord. actually in our church conference this past weekend it was reported that the number of missionaries serving is currently 80,333 compared to 58,500 just one year ago. how incredible and exciting! for the duration of their mission they are wholeheartedly focused on spreading the word of the Lord with no contact with friends or families other than letters, emails, and two phone calls a year (those calls always happen on mothers day, and christmas day). men serve for two years, while women serve for 18 months. this past friday was farm boy's mission renunion. it was the first one he has ever attended and i'm so glad he went and that i got to go along of course.
farm boy served his two year mission from may of 2008 to may 2010, and only says the best about his experiences from those two years. him and i didn't meet until the spring of 2011, which means i wasn't around close to his mission days, but i have heard so so much in the past two and half years. i love love love to hear all about his experiences walking through the streets of cali, eating so much authentic hispanic food he thought he would die, and preaching the true gospel in what he calls the "celestial" language of spanish. he goes on to tell me all about the crazy times he had serving with other young men, but his eyes really light up when he is telling all the details of the amazing people he met. he has nothing but absolute love and adoration for those people of the san bernadino mission, and i love to hear him reminisce about it all.
he often says that serving his mission was the best decision he ever made (besides marrying me, of course), and i will have to agree with him. his mission is not only the best experiences of his life, but i know that is the best addition to our lives as well as our children.
i have been lucky enough to meet some the amazing people from his mission by returning to the san bernadino area with him, which is a whole another post in and of itself, but this past weekend i was able to meet his mission president and fellow missionaries from those two years. the mission itself was casual and low key with local hispanic food, a pinata and a get to know you game for the dates/spouses. i played along with all of the above (especially the food of course), after a little encouragement from sister sanchez (mission president's wife) for the pinata and game. the pinata was much tougher than i imagined and i had not luck, but the young feisty children did. i gladly joined in grabbing the scattered pieces of candy on the floor though. i can never turn down sugar in any form.
while i was worried about grabbing candy to satisfy my sweet tooth, farm boy enjoyed reminicsing with all his buddies about their good ole days in their slang title of "san b". they hooped. they hollered. they asked how so-and-so was, and when they had been back to the mission last. and at the end of the night everyone parted their ways, but what a great night is was to remember the past, catch up on the present, and look towards the future of not only the missionaries that were there, but also all the people back in san b that have been touched by such humble, selfless and dedicated men and women.
and what deep deep love i have for this nineteen year old boy that spent two years of his life to serve the Lord and truly fell in love with the hispanic people of southern california. his face lit up all night friday while he relived the days of san b with his close mission friends, and i couldn't help but light up with excitement, love, and laughter as well.
that fun filled friday night was just the start to a spectacular weekend. we made the long drive home that night and got a good nights sleep before heading to preston the next morning. saturday and sunday consisted of watching our church conference that was nothing short of amazing and i hope to pick out my favorite parts to show on this here blog. when the conference wasn't airing we were cooking up delicious meals, running or walking around the beautiful country side of idaho, and just spending time with farm boy's little brother. oh, and we fit in a pumpkin pie shake from big j's, preston's local fast food joint. i was skeptical at first, but man it was just another great addition to our weekend.
it's hump day already and the weekend is fast approaching. can't wait for another fun weekend with the farm boy!
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