Missions

The 6 Temples my children chose

We have been talking a lot about missions in our house lately. (If you would like to know more about missionaries and WHY it is so important for LDS youth to serve missions, please feel free to go here.)

I guess the desire for them to serve came when we decided to place a framed picture of the Temple in each of their rooms. We looked online at LDS.org and looked at all the temples. I told the children to pick a Temple that they would someday love to visit/get married in/serve a mission around.

Brynn chose the Salt Lake Temple.
Lexie chose the St. George Temple.
Caden chose the Netherlands Temple.
Weston chose the Hong Kong Temple.
Ellie chose the Orlando Temple.
and we chose the Guayaquil Ecuador Temple for Camille (that is where my family is from).

One night when we were discussing these Temples, the discussion spurred from Temples to marriage to missions. All four of my oldest children WANT to serve missions. Brynn and Lexie said that all the money in their savings accounts will go toward their missions and Caden and Weston have already been saving for theirs.

I don't know that a mother could be more proud. Then Brynn found this video and got so excited.
I know my children are young and that my girls could end up getting married instead of serving, but I am excited and happy for this goal that they have in their lives.

So... Sunday night, the subject of missions came up again. Knowing that we have 6 children very close in age, we knew there would be some children who would overlap missions (should all of them go). When we finally broke it all down (with approximate dates, mind you).... it was almost bittersweet. To see ON PAPER how long some of my children will go without seeing each other pained my heart a little. BUT... I KNOW the blessings of what they will be doing will FAR out way any brief heartache we will feel.

Here is the break down:

Brynn will leave on her mission April 2022
                  comes back Oct/Nov 2023
* she won't see Lexie for 2 years
* she won't see Caden for 2 years and 8 months

Lexie will leave on her mission June 2023
                 comes back December 2024
*she won't see Brynn for 2 years
*she won't see Caden for 2 years 6 months
*she won't see Weston for 3 years

Caden will leave on his mission Jan 2023
                  comes back Jan 2025
*he won't see Brynn for 2 years 8 months
*he won't see Lexie for 2 years 6 months
*he won't see Weston for 3 years 6 months

Weston will leave on his mission June 2024
                    comes back June 2026
*he won't see Lexie for 3 years
*he won't see Caden for 3 years 6 months

Can I just say that seeing Mike's face as all 4 older children and myself were bawling our eyes out was  HILARIOUS! My cute boys even said, "Mommy, we are going to spend as much time together as we can before we leave."
So cute.


I've got awesome kids.