This picture.
Jack didn't send it to me but my friend Cherie did.
Those are our handsome sons...standing together.
Don't they look great.
She said that she thought I might enjoy seeing it.
That of course is an understatement.
Missionary moms live for every photo that they can find of their sons.
I have been known to spot Jack in the background of a picture where he is barely visible.
I treasure even those pictures.
When he sends me pictures (like he did today!! YAY 5 of them and with Cherie's that makes 6!!) I look at them and smile and soak it all in.
I even enlarge them as large as I can and study his face to see if there are any changes.
And there are.
He looks more like a man.
He is a man.
I look at his shoes and his tie and his belt and inspect them for wear because he never tells me that he needs anything.
I look to see if his teeth look like they are in good condition and if it looks like he has been brushing and flossing.
I look to see the remnants of the wound on his chin from his running into the brick wall two weeks ago.
Because even though I have let him go
Entrusted him to the Lord.
I am still a mom.
His mom.
And I miss him.
So to Cherie and Leslie and Bonnie and Kristine and Rosalba and all of the other moms who encourage me and share with me and support me....
And get excited to spot my son in their sons pictures.....
Thank you!
You rock!!
I love my missionary mom sisters.
(here are some of the pics Jack sent today)
There are some of your sons in the background. Sorry that they are not bigger. But I know if anyone will recognize them from afar it is their mothers.
Now here is his email:
Hey everyone!
Well, this week has been a great week. Thanks for all of the emails! And, i got a few more postcards this week. Thanks. =) I enjoy getting those.
Today was change day, and Elder Dunkley and I were thrilled to learn that we don't have a change. We will be staying in Llano Largo, which is good, because i really enjoy this area. It’s not very small, nor is it very big, and there’s a lot to be done here. We’re going to have a lot of new missionaries come into the zone, which will be good, because they always have a lot of desire to work hard.
This last week was pretty different. I didn't get to work a lot in my own area. We did a lot of divisions to do baptismal interviews. Also, one of the elders in our zone has chicken pox, and he and his companion have to stay in the house all week until it goes away. A lot of the week was spent with them, doing divisions so the healthy elder could work in his area to prepare his two baptisms that he had last Saturday. Speaking about those two baptisms, I was able to attend them. That was a very special moment for me, because they were the family of one of my converts, Ana Garcia. It was her sister in law and her sister. It was great to be able to meet them, and they expressed their gratitude to me for teaching Ana. They told me that Ana has been the door through which their family has received many blessings. The best is that there are still more people from her family investigating the church. The elders there told me that their conversions were easy, because they are all ready to receive the Gospel. I am very grateful for the opportunity that i had to be able to teach Ana, and to be able to see so many people come into the Church because of her. President shared her conversion story in change conference today.
I spent a lot of the week in an area called Canalitos with some other elders to do baptism interviews. Everyone this week passed, which is good news. Right now we’re focusing on being more diligent and obedient in the zone. Last Tuesday we had zone leader council with President Torres. We talked about the various problems and achievements of each zone, and talked about the ways we can do better. I am looking forward to this change. I think the zone will do very well.
What else happened this week. Each day of the week there’s a guy who herds a bunch of goats around our neighborhood selling goat milk. When someone wants some, he milks the goat right there. I thought that was pretty interesing. I havent had any goat milk yet, but i’m tempted.
Speaking about food, this week some member served us cow stomach. It was gross. It was like little strips of nasty cow fat with a little bit of meat in an oily soup. It was not very good. Oh, and we went to eat with the same family yesterday, and the dish was a bean soup with meat, but i swear i got the cow heart. Anyways, i’ve been striking out on the food this week. But it’s nice to eat with the members.
Yesterday i showed a member family how to make cheesecake. It was delicious.
Well, i think it’s question time now.
1.Where are you?? Lol
Llano Largo still. =)
2. If you are somewhere new there had better be lots and lots of details, like who is your companion and what is your new area like and what is your apartment like? If not the just use this question to tell me what is the best thing you ate all week. Nerent
2. If you are somewhere new there had better be lots and lots of details, like who is your companion and what is your new area like and what is your apartment like? If not the just use this question to tell me what is the best thing you ate all week. Nerent
The best thing i ate this week was definitely not the cow stomach, and definitely the cheesecake.
3. Have you made a list of the places you want to go when we pick you up?
Yes, pretty much. I’ll let you know when i get to call you guys.
4. How is your arm?
It’s doing better now.
5. Have you given anymore thought to what you want to study when you come back? Has your mission changed the way you feel about a future profession?
I want to study either medicine or hospital administration. We’ll have to see
6. What is your favorite thing that happened this week?
Being able to see the family of Ana Garcia get baptized.
7. What is Elder Dunkley like personality wise?
He’s pretty relaxed. We get along very well.
8. How excited are you to call your most awesome mother in less than a month?
Yes!
9. Should you be thinking about mailing a possible mothers day gift for example.....uh.....just off the top of my head.....A LETTER AND A PICTURE CD!!! and by that I mean a letter JUST for your mother!
I should be thinking about it, even though the post offive it FARRRRRRR AWAY!
Well, this email may be a little short, but i am going to send some pictures! So that will be fun.
Anyways, i hope that everyone has a great week! The mission is great, and i am learning and growing every week. I love you guys, and pray for you often!
Love,
Elder Winn
when our son was on his mission, we would google for webcams in his city then find out how often they updated and tell him where they were so that he could go there and stand in fron of the webcam long enough to get his picture taken...then we would instantly get the picture. You can't believe how connected you feel!
ReplyDeleteCow stomach = tripe. They use that to make menudo. Yuck.
ReplyDeleteI still remember seeing John-Ross on the webcam in Torino!
I know you're living until Mother's Day--best day of the year!
Jordan sent home a photo of that building in it too! He said that it's from the Parque Central and that he was there last Monday on Pday from the CCM and that there was a zone of elders from the North mission that he talked to for a minute. Imagine if Jack was among them? If they only knew about their crazy mom's friendship back home!
ReplyDelete