No one prepared us for the heart wrenching scene we go through at the airport every six weeks as we say good-bye to the faithful missionaries who are departing. We look at their faces and see mature, faithful young men and women who have bright futures ahead of them. One missionary compared it to arriving in the mission field like lumps of coal and leaving as polished diamonds. And less you think this was an easy process, he also said he had the rough edges ground off of him and pressure added because of some of the transfers the President had for him. Whatever happened during those two years or eighteen months, each of these missionaries is a precious gem to us.
Most missionaries leave in fairly large groups - or at least groups that are comparable to the size they arrived in. However, at times missionaries leave one at a time. Sometimes it's because of medical reasons and other times it is because of school or other situations. No matter why the missionary leaves our mission, Jim and I go through a time of mourning. We know it is truly good-bye for some of our international missionaries who we will never see again. In other cases we are hopeful we will see them at reunions and that this is just a temporary "see you soon".
 |
| July 15, 2010: Sister Aragon |
 |
| August, 2010: Elder Matthews |
 |
| August 4, 2010: Elder Evans, Elder McKay, Elder Poulson Elder Montoya, Elder Carmichael, Elder Adams, Elder Matthews. |
 |
| September 15, 2010: Sister Hurtado, Sister Daniels, Sister Frost, Elder Buford, Elder Sheffield, Elder Hawkes, Elder Hirschi |
 |
| October 26, 2010: Elder Chiang, Sister Crowfoot, Elder Fortin, Elder Foulger |
 |
| November 20, 2010: Sister Raiau |
 |
| December 8, 2010: Elder Thompson, Elder Peterson, Elder Gunnell, Elder Nardini, Elder Volk |
 |
| January 19, 2011: Elder Faundez, Sister Canizalez, Elder Vea |
 |
| March 2, 2011: Sister Menendez, Sister Cagnacci, Sister Wightman, Elder Mezerai, Elder Middlesworth, Elder Spittle, Elder Olson |
 |
April 13, 2011: Front row left to right: Sister Ortega, Sister Matsumori, President Matsumori, Sister Luthi
Back row: Sister Sanchez, Sister Pinales, Sister Gomez, Elder Bradford, Elder Pratt, Elder Castillo, Elder Riggs |
 |
| May 25, 2011: Elder Lo, Elder Waite, Sister Matsumori, President Matsumori, Sister Terry |
 |
| July 6, 2011: Sister Brown, Elder Wigren, Sister Morgan, Elder Hung, Elder Luk, Elder Hanks, Elder Ward, Sister Brooks, Elder Payne, Sister Ellsworth |
 |
| September 9, 2011: Elder Smith |
 |
August 17, 2011: Sister Clark, Sister Sorensen, Sister Chan, Sister Hanny, Sister Henry, Sister Staley, Sister Gonzalez
Back row: Elder Vodoratskiy, Elder Nielsen (missing, Elder Grady) |
 |
September 28, 2011: Front row - Elder Liebhardt, Sister Matsumori, President Matsumori
Back row: Sister Otieno, Sister Manske, Sister Silva, Elder DeKlerk, Sister Gleazon, Sister Anderson, Sister Tavernier, Sister Lawrence |
 |
| October 10, 2010: Elder Vakalahi |
