Friday, July 3, 2015

THAT'S A WRAP

After 5 years of service as LDS Charities Wheelchair Specialists for Asia, 21 trips around the planet and over 300 flights, we'll finish up our full-time service in 9 days and have committed to stay on as part-time specialists for Nepal and Vietnam for at least one more year.   We are anxious to reconnect with our ward, our neighborhood and our family.

In thinking back over our experience, I've pinpointed a few very specific lessons I've learned:

1. In America WE ARE VERY SPOILED!!!  We have so much and don't really appreciate all the blessings we enjoy on a daily basis like clean water, a home, food, etc.

2. There are people all over the world, whether they're Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or whatever, that are filled with the "light of Christ" and live their lives in a spirit of selflessness.

3.  I’m grateful to belong to a Church that cares so much about the basic needs of the human family in all areas of the world.  I'm grateful that the Church provides me with opportunities like this mission to expand my brain power and to better understand the diversity of mankind.

4.  Modern day pioneers are blazing trails for the church to grow in remote places of the world just like the American Pioneers did in the 1800’s as they came to the Salt Lake Valley. Their trials today are just as extreme,  in almost every way, as the pioneers who crossed the plains.

5.  Blessings come as I dutifully and faithfully press forward with Church assignments that I might consider “uncomfortable, inconvenient and/or unnoticed.”  The blessings I received during our years of  mission service  FAR outnumber and outweigh the sacrifices I made.

6.  God's great earth is a beautiful place!!!!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Pokhara, Nepal

Sister Hymas and Sister Gatherum pose with Huong Pham in Hanoi

Hanoi, Vietnam

Kathmandu, Nepal

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kim and Gaye in Otavalo, Ecuador

Kim and Gaye in Otavalo, Ecuador

Southern California Family Fun

Southern California Family Fun

Picking up Sister Jaci Croxford

Picking up Sister Jaci Croxford
from her mission in Quito, Ecuador March 2007

Picture Perfect Wedding Day

Picture Perfect Wedding Day