I returned in May of this year (2014) after a year and a half in Hiawatha, Kansas. At first it was a part of the Missouri Independence Mission under President and Sister Keyes and the mission was split/recombined and I became a part of the new Kansas Wichita Mission.
To try and summarize a year and a half away from home in a blog post is not possible, but I will try and at least hit the high lights and post some pictures for the sake of record keeping and posterity!
It began..hmmm..Bishop Naumann called me into his office saying, "I have this crazy idea." He doesn't seem to be one for crazy ideas, and I was curious! "Have you thought of serving a mission?" I had a flash of recent memories, thinking, I have been divorced for a couple of years, no steady job, some fixed income coming in....nope, hadn't thought of this option. And so began the application process, which took me 6 months or so. In the meantime I did a visit with Mom in June of 2012 and her health seemed to be declining..her will to live in this world was not so strong. She dreamed of Dad Eskaran coming for her on a canoe, beckoning her to come aboard. She told me if I got my mission call, I was to go...whether she was dying or not.
God is kind. She passed away in August. Just by coincidence I had booked flights to Hawaii a couple of months before, thinking to visit my brother and sister and their families before going on mission, and also, at the request of my farrier friend and his family--to show Debbie around O'ahu. And so I was to travel to Hawaii for Mom's funeral. Blessings in disguise. No mission call yet.
Upon returning from Hawaii, the mission call arrived...I was to report to MTC..October..29. I have been such a fish out of water since the divorce and just meandering around life, being buffeted and following whatever happens..and so it was that I drove to Kansas on my own...longing to go through Yosemite National Park, I was there for a night and some photography..and took the road nearest the exit for Las Vegas to see mama's house and get a father's blessing from Grandpa Dean. I collected some of her things..sad remembrances..lost my car keys there but continued on with spare keys handily in the armrest compartment (??) and continued through St. George up to Provo and the MTC.