The Final Testament

Our final days in the mission field included these experiences:

-        The members of our congregation threw us a huge going-away party.  We love these people so much and they made us cry more than a few times that evening.

-        We traveled to Sacramento to the temple with Sister Yahn, who had not been the temple in some time.  While there, we were with Brother and Sister Perdock as they entered the temple for the first time.  The experience was beyond words.  We love these people so much and it was such an honor to be there with them.

-        We spent a lot of time handing off our area to the Senior Couple who will be replacing us, the Mullin’s.  We were in the MTC with them and love them dearly.  They will do very well and have made us feel comfortable leaving our people to their care.

-        We met with the Mission President for our final interview and also a spiritual devotional with several other younger missionaries who were also returning home.

We will be home in the arms of our family on Wednesday, December 12^th.

We will be speaking to our home congregation about our mission on December 30^th at 1pm at the Latter-day Saint church building at Indiana and Post in Spokane.

Here is the final testament from Elder Stewart-Longhurst’s journal (for this mission):

This mission is proof that God knows each one of us, knows what each of our individual needs are, and can and will send help to us.  We were out of the blue called strongly, both at the same time, to drop what we were doing and serve this mission.  We had no idea what that was about or why we should serve, other than to be obedient, but we did agree immediately to serve.  And then we got our call to California.  We had friends who served in Africa, Australia, New Zealand.  Us?  California.  Who would need us there?  But almost the second we drove into Clearlake, we knew, and the spirit testified to us, that we were very much needed there.  Our talents, skills, experiences were exactly what the people of Clearlake needed.  Time and time again, people let us into their homes as if they had been waiting for us, which they had.  Two different times, people had even seen us in a dream and knew we were coming and why.  The theme was “other missionaries have come here before to ask us to come back to church, but they weren’t right.  You guys are the right missionaries for us.”  God sent us here specifically for these specific families.  It was a powerful honor and pleasure to an instrument in His hands in bringing so many back to His fold.  Not only bringing them back, but preparing them to attend the temple and receive temple covenants and then accompanying them to the temple.  I truly feel blessed to have been a part of it.  I loved being a missionary again, even with its trials, long days, short nights, and high demands.  For as I saw people I had grown to love turn towards Christ and get closer to Him, my heart swelled, and it made it worth all the sacrifice and hardship.  This definitely will not be the end of missionary service for us.

The Perdock's

Sister Yahn

Farewell Party