Pretty interesting!! I made a mistake a while ago, and immediately corrected it and put her in the right group. But, I had already sent out a welcome message to the wrong group, and look what has happened because of it so far!

Betty Pearson, Lehi UT, LDS Missionary Moms Listowner

----- Original Message -----
From: Michele
Date: 2.10.06
Subject: mistake?

Dear Betty,

I do hope you had a wonderful birthday. I was trying to get this ready to send to you in a birthday card via snail mail but with people being out sick I did't get it done. So here it is this way.

I regestered for MM 2 weeks ago yesterday. By mistake(?) I was put in the eastern US instead of Eastern Europe. Well Friday afternoon I had received 3 emails.

1. A friend that is also in the group recognized my name and said that she had emailed you back to tell you I was in the wrong group.
2. A MM just saying she hoped I didn't mind if she laughed, she didn't know Poland was in the Eastern US.
3. A MM telling me that "her daughter was serving in the Harrisburg PA mission. Her daughter's boyfriend is a convert from Poland and is going to school at BYU. His mother is still in Poland and is not a member. If my son ever gets into Wroclaw please let them know." Well I immediatley emailed her back to tell her that our Michael had just been transfered to the very town, Wroclaw. By Saturday I received a long email from her telling us all about their Michal and his MOM.

I just thought you might like to hear about this MISTAKE(?). We have all been quite overwhelmed by it. I thank Heavenly Father every night for you and this wonderful web site for all of us MM. I know I have met 2 MOMs now that I will always be very close to.

Thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart and may the Lord bless you for your GOOD WORKS.

Michele

Elder Michael
Warsaw Poland Mission

I have been helped many times by MMs who have let me know by way of email of a transfer. This has been so helpful because letters from my missionaries telling me their new addresses sometimes cross with letters sent from home in the mail.

It has also been a wonderful support system when I was feeling lost without my boys at home. Just to hear the perspective of another MM helped me through. Often someone would send a letter that addresses just the question I have - even though I haven't asked it. Amazing how inspiration works.

But I think the best thing about the lists for me is an opportunity to "crow" about my boys' successes a little without feeling self-conscious. When I am talking to friends or other ward members about my missionaries I often feel like they are going to roll their eyes at me any minute. This list provides an outlet to share the good and the bad, the happy days and the ones that are just a little tough.

I hope this helps in some way.

California Oakland Missionary Mom
Elder Florida Tallahassee Mission
Elder Canada Calgary Mission

Just a quick note to tell you how grateful I am for the Missionary Moms group. I have raved over it to so many people. Another mom in our ward just had a son called to Japan this week so she will be joining soon too. I joined just over a month ago, having a son just called to the Argentina Resistencia mission. I learned about this list from a sister on the Topica RS list.

I can't imagine going through an ordeal like this without the support and help from the sisters on the list. It has been SUCH (not yelling, just adding emphasis!!!) a comfort and help to me. This is my first born who has been such a joy to raise, as he has always had a natural tendency to choose the right. Although we have raised him to go on a mission and I want him to go, I don't want him to leave, if you get my drift. I will miss him so. Having the other sisters on the list answer all our questions, fill in the blanks, and give us a glimpse into the lives of elders and sisters in the field, right this minute, has given it such a human touch. We've learned about missionaries who will have returned before Graham gets out into the field, and also ones who will still be there. They are friends just waiting to happen! I've even met a sister with a son checking in to the MTC for the same mission on the same day so we have been able to help each other along.

I'll stop rambling on now. Just wanted you to know what a positive impact you have had on our lives and thank you for it!

Canadian Missionary Mom

Elder serving in Argentina Resistencia - Nov '04
I am so thankful for you both

And I am so grateful of these lists and I want again tell to Betty : THANK YOU , THANK YOU for your wonderful work and support for our missionaries and their families!!

In our family I am the one who is reading this list an sometimes I am writing, too.. But I always tell my husband and my children about these wonderful messages you are writing here, and we are talking about them in our family. because the missionaries and the missionary work is so close to our heart because of our own missionary.

My husband is as exiting as me of these lists!! He is some kind of "outmember" but is supporting this in his whole heart, because me and my husband are like one .. although I am the one who is reading and writing!!!

The missionary's dads are sooooo very important persons, and our missionaries know that . and so are the moms , too!! Both are needing!!

It is really touchig to read different stories about the missionaries.. And they and their families need all love and support and what should be the better way than sharing things in these lists. And the work is going on..

I really love to be missionary's mom. It is so great honor to me. And I love the missionaries like my own children. they are doing the most important work in the world and they are very blessed and the angels are around them helping and supporting. and sometimes I think that we can be some angels for them, too.

Thank you for your wonderful and kind messages for me for writing of feeding missionaries. You all are so good moms and very good example for me as being missionary's mom!!!!

Our Elder is happy in Oxnard, and it is fine area,,,, but he has also some problems with his new companion (just 7 weeks out) because his companion does not want to wake up in the mornings, but he says that he is trying to help him in patience and love. and everything will work out... He says that this is mission work and it is going on... They have some good people to teach and he is very excited...

They had last week one family which had anti-mormon papers and some bad questions about the church. Our son told us, that he was trying to explain the truth but when the dad in this family told bad things about Joseph Smith... he felt pain in his heart and he told us that it was because it was so against his own testimony and the truth. And he was happy about his strong feelings and so was I too, because we surely need the very strong testimony of these important things . I know that Joseph Smith was the prophet of God and I am very grateful that all my family knows that, too!!!!!

Have a nice and wonderful week

Love

Missionary Mom in Helsinki Finland
Elder serving in CA Ventura Mission May 2003

Sometimes I read unsubscriber's comments, but most often I don't read them. Why? I find some comments depressing and frustrating. This is especially the case when a relatively new subscriber unsubs after only being in the group a few short days or weeks. "It didn't fulfill my needs", or, "There wasn't anyone in my son's mission" are the two biggest complaints.

When I do some research I usually find out that the unsubscriber never even posted one email message to their group! Well, sisters, if you remain hidden, your needs will never be known.

This reminds of me of an attitude you sometimes see in neighborhoods. A new neighbor moves into a home and then they go out of their way to get to know their neighbors. They talk to people, they attend church, make friends, and they get involved in the community.

Then you have other people who move into a neighborhood and then don't talk to anyone. They do not attend any church, nor do they get involved in any community activities. And they might tell others how unfriendly their neighborhood is!

We have a neighbor like the 2nd one. They have lived 2 houses down from our home for five years or more. We were excited to meet them, so Karl and I walked over to their home and knocked on their door. No one answered. Okay, maybe they weren't home. We went back a few other times, at different times of the day...still no response. At Christmastime we took goodies, and still, no one would answer the door--and this time we knew they were home.

Maybe they were deathly afraid of LDS families? After 3 years...we just gave up. Then slowly this family came out of their house. This past summer they have even been seen outside working in their yard, and have actually said, "Hi" to us as we walk by. Sometimes they would not return our friendly "hello"...but now they do. Progress! Someday we will be able to introduce ourselves. I have no clue what their names are, where they came from...but do know they have two boys and no longer run into the house when someone walks by...

The moral of this story is: if you want these groups to be beneficial, you have to out of your house and get to know people, and LET THEM GET TO KNOW YOU. :-) The group isn't like a house. Members of your group will not know you even exist unless you post a message. Give it a try, you might like it!

Comment:

Dear Betty -

I just wanted to take a minute to thank you personally for all you do to maintain the Missionary Mom's email group. I was stunned to hear that some join the group and then leave dissatisfied. When my son got his call to Uganda it didn't exactly shake my faith - but it did leave me in need of comfort and reassurance. I have gained so much from your group. Practical advice and inspiration and just many hands of fellowship as we all engage in this great world-wide work. I would be lost without the group and I feel so sorry for those who didn't embrace it and find what a blessing it could be to them.

B. Green

1. The article you sent out on how to help with your return missionary, and
2. The many posts i have read from other moms with their children's missionary experiences.

When my son got his mission call to Ivory Coast, Abidjan, I hate to admit, none of us knew exactly where that was. As I started my research on this Ivory Coast, Abidjan, I began to feel quite uneasy. I never thought that I was lacking Faith, but somehow, the world seemed like an awfully big place.

As the time came closer to send him to the MTC, a neighbor told me about this MM Email group. As soon as I sent in my registration, I had many responses.

These responses came from women who had sons in Africa, who were about to send sons to Africa. As I began to correspond with these mothers, I realized I wasn't so different from any of them and my doubts of my own personal faith began to dissolve. There is something people don't understand about sending our sons on missions. No one can understand but another mother and communication between mothers that had sent there sons to that, Ivory Coast, Abidjan mission were surviving as were their sons.

As my understanding grew because of my communication with these other mothers, the world seemed become smaller and I knew that I would survive and so would my son.

mm to Elder
03-08-04

Again, thank you so much.

Sincerely,

K R

My son is home now and my attention is drawn elsewhere. Thanks for providing this group. You can't even know how much you are blessing the lives of mothers and missionaries everywhere. Keep up the good work and may the Lord bless you in your efforts.

[Comment from Karl] In this very well written and gracious comment is the crux of these groups. She got support in the beginning, then gave support as she was able. Then she realized that her attention was needed elsewhere, so she unsubscribed. Thus is life. We move into different phases and have different interests and our focus changes. That's a fulfilment of scripture:

1. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5. A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6. A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7. A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8. A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our time with the group (LDSRmm2) and look forward to joining again when son #2 goes on his mission.

We have had the pleasure of getting to know some wonderful people through the group. Especially when our son was on his mission we found the group to be an excellent way to get to know other families.

One example of this is a family who had a son being sent to the same mission in which our son was serving. He was in the Preston/Chorley MTC and his parents were concerned about how he was adjusting (nothing serious, just normal parent worries). We happened to be at the Preston Temple and noticed a group of missionaries coming out. As is common among missionary parents, we especially noticed the name badges. The concerned parents' son was one of the missionaries in the group!

We were able to talk with him, tell him his parents were asking about him and gave him some basic information about our son, should they meet, etc.

After we got home, we contacted his parents and let them know of the meeting and passed on his message to them, also telling them how wonderful he looked!!

What a blessing. We couldn't have done any of this without these Missionary Mom groups. Many thanks for all your hard work.

Regards, S and K,
Missionary Mom and Dad

It was great to watch the "cycle of adjustment" the moms went through. From mourning, to acceptance, to jubilation at the return of their missionary. Even though my son returned home in January, I continued to "hold on". I am finally ready to let go but this will be the first place I go when my next son receives his call!

Thanks and God Bless! Thanks for your selfless service to so many!

Gratefully,
B P
RM - R P
Fortaleza, Brazil 2006-2008