On your marks, get set . . .

We leave in just 18 days!  What a whirlwind it has been preparing to leave.  We have had the blessing of spending many wonderful days with our family both at our home and at their homes.  We are filling our "Love Reservoir " enough to last for two years (we hope).  We have been packing, sorting, giving things away, throwing things away, repairing, and preparing our house and property.  The net result is that we are busy and  have not had much time to think about how much we are going to miss our family while we are gone.  We found a statement from our former college president, Elder Jeffery R. Holland (now one of the apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) that seems to help it sting just a little less.  He said:
          " . . . tell your wives that if you can leave your recliner and the remote control for a few short months, they can leave the grandchildren. Those little darlings will be just fine, and I promise you will do things for them in the service of the Lord that, worlds without end, you could never do if 
stayed home to hover over them. What greater gift could grandparents give their posterity than to say by deed as well as word, “In this family we serve missions!”  (October 2011 General Conference)

Indeed, this is a fulfillment of our dream of going on a mission when we retired.  What a blessing to get to go to Samoa and help the teachers there get their teaching credentials.  We talked to one of the former couples we are replacing in Sauniatu and they said that they have 3 or 4 teachers who have passed all of the requirements except to pass their English language exam.  Janice will have her work cut out for her to help them over that last hurdle to get their certificates.

We will keep you posted on our progress after we get through the Missionary Training Center in New Zealand and we are settled into our Until then malo soifua!

apartment in Apia, Samoa.