Not sure if the word Bittersweet describes the feelings. The rollercoaster of emotions is almost too much to explain. Thank you Pam for chiming in yesterday. With this being my first missionary I was not even prepared for the rollercoaster of emotions. The excitement at the airport was so amazing. My heart swelled like I had never imagined. To see my strong and faithful missionary return with honor was probably the ultimate parental pay day. He was so happy to see his family. He was completely overwhelmed with gratitude. He is so incredibly humble and sincere and loving. All attributes he brings home from the amazing people of Peru he has served for the last 2 years. He did well as we spent time talking about his mission and going through pictures.
We were not in any way prepared for what was to come. We met at the Stake Presidents office for his releasing. He spent about 45 minutes in with the stake president and then they invited all the family him. President Lewis spoke of what an incredible missionary he was. What an incredible man we have now in our presence. He then had Dylan share his testimony. Words cannot even describe the power of the spirit in that room. I have never heard such a powerful testimony. Now for the hard part. President Lewis released him and told him it was time for him to take off his name tags. My son broke down and cried like a baby for about 15 minutes before he could do it. It was so hard to watch him. He loved everything about his mission.
He is incredible. Sent away a young man and got back the most incredible man I could ever imagine. Not to mention he is about the most incredibly handsome missionary I have ever seen. Beyond words. What an incredible experience. What an amazing two years. The hardest part is that it is over and it is time to move forward with your life. Not an easy thing to do when your heart is hurting and longing for your mission, your friends, your mission president, the people, the culture and most of all Peru. His emotions are on the surface. How happy I am to see him love so deeply. We will need to keep Peru alive and well in our home. Thank goodness for face book so he can stay in contact with everyone. We are going to love having him home. I am sure we will only be able to keep him here for a couple months. He always thought he would stay in AZ and go to school on his in state scholarship but he wants to be with his friends at BYU. And I can totally understand that. He loves these boys like his brothers. I know that the Lord has a hand in everything. I cannot even begin to thank the moms of the Peru Lima East mission for raising such incredible young men.
I know we will make it through these next couple days and weeks. I am grateful for the heads up on the transition back to civilization and I am grateful he has 3 weeks till school starts.
If we are not friends on face book , we have pictures on his blog.
