My Best Companion

and I am really referring to Gary--not to the quotes that speak about dogs or other pets as the best companions.  Our fourth week on our mission, we got to work and within a few days, Gary had created an amazing system to track our work and to keep each other informed on what we had done.  Our work involves some detective work as we have to FIND these mission presidents and their contact information to reach out to them to invite them to get involved in the project of oral histories. Gary is very good at it. We were given 12 presidents and by Thursday, Gary had found all of them and I had sent them emails inviting them to participate.  I have heard from a couple including one who called us back immediately after getting the email and I had the most delightful conversation about him and his life and his joy to share more formally about his experiences. 

Each morning Gary and I would meet and talk about our plans and then I would head to my "office" in the basement to do my part.  We haven't gotten all of our clearance yet, so that has been a slight problem but we are moving forward and waiting to hear from more of those we have reached out to.  I started also working on family history by adding photos and stories and also cleaning up the sources and things on the person pages on family tree.  I was feeling more like a missionary, doing work, and not just taking other people's time to train us.  It was a good feeling.

I had been thinking about how to craft my missionary schedule to best do the work that we are assigned, attend devotionals and meetings, attend trainings, and also give enough time to family history and also do the daily tasks like laundry and cooking that needs to be done.  Gary is good to remind me that I am a full-time missionary and that some of the things I was worried about I didn't need to be. That is another way he is a great companion for me.

And I love it when he prays and thanks God for our opportunity to serve as missionaries.  It warms my heart and can bring tears to my eyes.

In his off time, he is busy working with his sisters to finish up the decisions and work that is still needed on his mom's estate. That task alone has been huge and he deals with lots and lots of emails and conversations with banks, etc. as he works to get that done...plus helping me with household projects and taking care of his mom's yard, etc.  He has been so busy, but still he can focus on being a missionary.  It is amazing and I have loved being his mission companion (and his eternal companion as well).