Sarah's Farewell was three weeks ago, and I want to blog about it before I forget details. For those that don't know, it's customary for a missionary to speak in their ward (congregation) before leaving on a full time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Ever since President Gordon B Hinckley gave a talk in 2002, farewells have become more simple. The missionary is one of the speakers, and the meeting doesn't revolve around them. I like this change. When I went on a mission in 2001, my family was in charge of my farewell. I spoke along with my mom and sister Jess. My mom and sisters sang a musical number and it was the Sister Liz show. Although I've still seen families dominate the meeting, I liked that our ward kept it simple.
Sarah gave a great talk on Listening to the Prophet. We loved all of it, but especially loved it when Sarah said she'd be speaking "Brazil". She's been taking Portuguese lessons from the Brazil MTC for a couple months, so we got a kick out of her nervous slip. I asked why she didn't correct it, and she said because when she had piano recitals she was always told to pretend like nothing happened and just keep going. Sound logic! The youth speaker that spoke was Nathan Tanner, and an adult, Ryan Wilson also spoke and gave a great missionary themed talk. It was a great meeting. She had a lot of friends that came to support her and some of them came over after for a late lunch.
We're not supposed to have big parties, but we knew we'd have family in town, and needed to feed them, so we had a little more food than normal set up in a festive way. ;) We brought out the macaron tower again and I made some Brazil shaped cookies although flag cookies may have been more convincing.
After the luncheon, President Vaughn Evans came over for her setting apart, which is when she's formally made a full time missionary. He talked to Sarah and us for a while and I really appreciated how much he talked about the importance of obedience on missions. I've mentioned it to Sarah a handful of times, but we receive so many blessings when we show our love for God and Jesus by being obedient. Missionaries can use all the help they can get, and obedience is one way to get that help. After his words, he invited everyone there to say some words. We were all surprised, and pleased, when Steven spoke up and told her he was proud of her for going and even if he isn't going to church, he's glad she is. (I wish I'd recorded it or had it written down. It was really sweet. Maybe I'll look at the camera recording, but I doubt it.) Dave talked about being a convert as did Greg Buckmelter who happened to arrive shortly before her setting apart. My parents commented, Mike and I commented, Ash commented, and I think that might be it. I'll have to ask Mike when I talk to him. It was a really special evening for our family.
A new ritual I am going to miss is my nightly walks with Sarah. Ever since coming home from college, we've gone on a walk together most nights. I cherished this time with her. It's only been two weeks, but I really miss her!
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