He Made It!

My little brother is in the Marshall Islands! He'll be serving a 2 year mission there. He's in the third picture, back row, second from the left, wearing a green tie. How cool is that? I'm so glad that Sister Smith is a blogger.

He's Off!!

Friday, Stachelbeere, Maulbeere, and I met some friends and went rock climbing. It's what Stachelbeere wanted to do before he left. We had a good time! (We left Monkey with Nana & Grandpa and they all liked that arrangement.)


It was beautiful. This is the top of the "bunny hill." I told Stachelbeere that he couldn't take me to the difficult climbs, as this was the first or second time I'd been, and it it was the second then the first was while I was in high school. He laughed and we went to the "bunny hill." It was plenty challenging!


The sunset from the rocks was beautiful. Though the it was a bit chilly on the backside to just sit and watch what the sky was doing.

Sunday, Stachelbeere was set apart to be a missionary.

Monday, we went with the family to take him to the airport.


Today, he was to report to the MTC. Family living out there took him, and by now he has begun learning to be a missionary. It's so sweet to listen to my Monkey pray for Heavenly Father to, "bless him to be a good missionary."

In about 2 weeks, he's supposed to go to the Marshall Islands, where he will be learning a new language. (We don't know which one yet.) Letters take a long time, (and Stachelbeere isn't much on writing them) so we are pretty excited that the mission president's wife is a blogger! She's highlighted a few of the differences between the Marshall Islands and the US. She mentioned that some of the senior missionaries got to meet SpongeBob. She took pictures of the huts the missionaries live in on Christmas Island. The mission is made up of a continent's worth of ocean, well studded with little islands. So far, the biggest city that anybody's been able to find on the maps since the family started looking is about 26,000 people. Some of the missionaries serve in what they call the "outer islands." She's got pictures of that too.

We'll miss Stachelbeere, but we know that he's doing what the Lord wants him to do in the place the Lord needs him.

---

If you serve a mission faithfully and well, you will be a better husband, you will be a better father, you will be a better student, a better worker in your chosen vocation. Love is of the essence of this missionary work. Selflessness is of its very nature. Self-discipline is its requirement. Prayer opens its reservoir of power.

- President Gordon B. Hinckley

---

Mission Call!

My brother, Stachelbeere, has his mission call! He will be serving in the Marshall Islands Majuro Mission ... English speaking, more or less. Apparently English is the official language, but most of the folks there are not really fluent. Apparently there is also quite a bit of Japanese and a variety of native languages. It's a relatively new mission - just organized in 2006. Looks like paradise! Today, their weather is warm: 96F, with 76% humidity.