Farewell

Today (July 27, 2008) was Ryan’s day to speak in church before leaving. Turned out to be a very busy, but very nice day.

It began early with Ryan’s friend doing the same thing in his ward (congregation of our church in a geographical area). Josh Feil had moved to the Visalia First Ward a couple of years ago. When he and his family came to see a missionary couple in our ward speak before their mission they had heard the men sing "Called to Serve," and requested that they sing in their Ward on Josh’s special day. So at 8 a.m. Scott and Ryan went to the Stake Center to practice for that and for Ryan’s. At 9 a.m. Remington and I joined them to hear Josh speak and to hear the guys sing. They sang a beautiful rendition of "High on a Mountain Top."

I was surprised at the end of the meeting when all the men stood up again to sing the closing song. I didn’t know they were singing "Called to Serve." So this mom lost it early in the day . . .

At our Sacrament meeting Ryan had picked (on) his brother Reece to speak, and Elder Kleine the missionary serving in our ward, from Germany, spoke. And of course Ryan. All three gave great talks on different aspects on faith.

It was the best talk I’ve ever heard Reece give. And it made it all too easy to imagine the day when he will be preparing to leave on his mission. Elder Kleine has been one of the finest missionaries to serve in our ward. Hard working; never wasting a moment of time – what a wonderful example and first "trainer" for all our boys.

During Ryan’s talk he somehow managed to use a cell phone analogy about how we sometimes have dead spots and sometimes strong signals as we "keep the faith." He used many of the popular slogans of cell phone commercials including, "more bars in more places," and "can you hear me now?"

At the close of the meeting Dear Bishop said he didn’t recommend using the "more bars" analogy out in the mission field.

Oh, and at the beginning of the meeting Bishop Burns also announced that Ryan had been called to the "Florida Orlando Spanish Speaking Mission" – maybe he knows something we don’t? (He was called to English speaking.)

The men’s choir sang again, but this time it was "Elders of Israel." But Mom still cried. Did that a lot today for some reason. The spirit and being so proud of all my guys, especially Elder Miller.

We were so grateful to all the friends who came to show their support: our dear neighbor, and adopted Grandma, Mary, Sister Douglass, and Sister Barry, the Feil, Stewart, Bickmore, McWilliams, and Goulding families. And all our dear Ward Family. Thank you. Just wish I hadn't had to rush off to teach my Primary class and could have visited with everyone.