EPILOGUE

OUR LAST TIME IN SINGAPORE

We are home---back in the United States.  When we got to the Seattle airport we were very lost as we usually fly out of Portland Oregon and the airports are quite different. We claimed our bags in one place and then checked them in again only to pick  them up at another place. As we moved up the escalator wondering where to get our bags we got to the top we heard alot of screaming and there was most of our family. What a nice surprise and how wonderful to finally be with them again. We found our bags and got in our car with Jason driving and headed out into traffic of course on the improper side of the road. It was very unnerving for me as I had been driving on the 'proper' side for so long. I am still needing to concentrate when entering a parking lot, "stay right, stay right."

SEATTLE AIRPORT

SOME OF OUR FAMILY AT SEATTLE AIRPORT

We were welcomed home by all of our family. Our two daughters and their entire families from Utah came up for the week. Everyone helped get our place ready for us. They worked hard and spent their own money stocking our refer and cupboards with good food, some of which we had not seen for the last 18 months.

JOSHUA & TANNER & JADEN PLAYING

ALEX LEARNING TO DRIVE GRANDPA'S TRACTOR

We had pretty good weather and enjoyed being outside and having fun together for a few days. It was everything and every feeling we imagined it would be all the time we were gone. We missed our ward's church that next Sunday as we were on our way to a funeral. We were to speak but were preempted by the changing of the Bishop and his counselors and of course our need to go to the funeral.  It was good to be able to finally go to our ward after a couple of weeks and we were warmly received by all. We have very good friends there and missed all of them very much. The first week we were home and after our family left we were without a schedule of visiting and appointments and meetings. So we called a few of the members up and took our pictures and talked about our mission with them. We would be happy to continue doing that and are waiting for invitations.

KEITH & PATTY'S WELCOME HOME PARTY FOR US

 It has been almost 2 months now since we arrived home. I have cut the grass way more than it needed. We have slowly moved things out of the storage room into the home. We went to Aunt Evelyn's funeral the first weekend we were home and to a wedding the next weekend and helped Jason move into their new home in Vancouver the next week. We had less than two weeks to finish getting settled and we moved Ellen's mom in with us. We have spoken in our ward and gave a presentation in Longview Second ward and gave a fireside in our ward.

CASTLE ROCK FIRESIDE

We miss our mission and the wonderful people. I really feel that some of them are the lucky ones to not have so much to distract them from relationships which are what is really important anyway.  They live beyond what we would think of as a simple life. It is the most basic life anyone could imagine and then some. As a result, what they have is each other and the gospel, the most important things. Consequently they care for each other and the gospel and give their time and energy to each other and the church. We hope that as we move forward in this life that we can reduce our distractions and focus our energies on relationships and the gospel. We know from our limited experiences in this life so far that when we have been the happiest and have felt the most real joy it was from being centered on these critical elements.

SOME OF THE KK MEMBERS & MISSIONARIES SEEING US OFF

Friends in KK at the airport

Many have asked us if we will go again. Our answer is this: We plan on keeping ourselves worthy and physically able to go when the Lord calls. We want to stay focused on the essentials and reduce our distractions which is not easy. There is such a short window of opportunity for seniors to serve and we hope that we can stay in that window of time for as long as the Lord needs us.

Sunset from Tanjung Aru

I bear my testimony that the Lord Jesus Christ lives and has a plan for our true happiness. I have found that as I turn my life over to him and his direction that he does a far better job with my life than I could ever do myself. I am so thankful that we were able to serve. I am thankful that we are both healthy and worthy. We have been blessed beyond any sacrifice that we may have felt we were making at the time. Our families were also blessed and we grew closer to them and our relationship bonds are stronger because of our service in Malaysia. We love those people. We learned so much about dedication, respect, sharing and sacrifice. There is not a single experience in our lives that can or will substitute for what we have just experienced as missionaries in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

WHERE TO NEXT??

Thanks for sharing part of this time with us. Please include us in your correspondence or journals or blogs if you ever take off on a journey such as we did.

May the Lord Bless you and your families.

Love from

Bill & Ellen

Our friends in Kota Kinabalu Branch