One thing we get "in bulk" here is CHANGE...and sometimes it's hard to remember that the Lord has a hand in all of this. After all, He is the gardener...and we just experienced a double "pruning". Almost three weeks ago now, the President grabbed us after Sac. Mtg. and took us into a quiet room, where he told us that he felt it was time to ask the McBrides to make a sacrifice. We knew of several assignments and callings that would need to be filled with many more missionaries going home...we knew we were probably candidates for the Carthage assignment, but felt more than a bit of panic and concern at the call to leave Nauvoo, the sites we love, all the different missionaries that we serve with each day, the temple close by, the river, the social outings, etc...and what about the fact that all of our kids were coming in April...and staying IN Nauvoo...a half hour away fro where we would be? No, we didn't head to our next meetings...I needed to go home and have a good cry, and then head back...my emotions stayed on the surface for the next couple of days. As the hours went by, I realized that this was just a part of being a missionary, and of course I really love Carthage, so that was no problem. We were able to talk the Presidency into letting us commute for a couple of weeks, so that we could wait for the couple living in the Bushnell Mansion, on the main floor, to go home...all of the apartments in that wonderful church-owned house are great, but it was too overwhelming to face the almost two flights of stairs up to the other apartments...and the cottages on the Carthage Jail property weren't ready for us to move in to. Besides, part of our assignment as leaders in Carthage is to work closely with and love the wonderful young sister missionaries that will rotate through there every six weeks for the summer. They will be living in two of the apartments with us. We really do look forward to that wonderful association. The young sisters we worked with last year were like daughters to us, and we learned much more from them than they did from us. They've given us plenty of dishes and silverware to feed our whole district, which will consist of 4 couples and 6 sisters...no, we won't be feeding them every day, or even every week, but I'm sure we'll get together often.
So...we move on, get excited about the move and the new experiences, and figure we'll still see our friends at least at "Rendezvous" and "Sunset"...we hoped....we knew they would be reorganizing the casts, again making three casts out of the two we had all winter, when all the new missionaries arrive the middle of March, on into April and some in May. They decided to make up the new cast lists for us to see ahead of time, so we could order our tickets for family/friends coming, and we could know what night our performances would be. They posted the casts...and though we love all the missionaries here, we were not going to be in a cast with any of our close friends...which sent me back to crying mode. I realized that we would probably only see our dearest friends on Sundays. With gas prices going up for the summer, and all the travel back and forth on the days we do our shows, we probably can't justify coming in to see the other casts perform...but WE WILL somehow still meet for dinner now and then. The more I thought about how exhausting last summer was, the more I realized we would probably want to go home and crash!
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Our new home away from home, on Main St. in Carthage, IL...just a block or two away from our
visitors center. |
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| Two double car garages in back...a beautiful old building that the church restored. |
As a cried and stewed, I was mad at myself for reacting this way. I knew that this was how things were to be, and I knew that we would come to love our new cast...but I was sure disappointed in my attitude...we say we'll do anything asked of us, that we'll sacrifice and serve, but the "pruning" still hurts.... not for long, though. Well, I keep hoping I'll learn my lesson, adjust my attitude and say "thy will be done"...eventually I might get it right!
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