Sunday, May 25, 2014

What we are finding this week, and the past few weeks, is that we have lots of LASTS!!  One never really knows just how involved they are with everyday 'things' until one gets called to serve on a mission.  Thus, the lifestyle begins to wind down in one direction and gear up in another.

Wayne's involvement in City Government:  He has been serving the past couple of years in the Main Street Program here in Brunswick (the small city where we have lived for 40 years now).  That is a good thing.  He is very, very good at what he does.  People in town love him and love rubbing shoulders with him.  That being said, we both said 'NO' when he was asked to run for Mayor.  We just felt we would be leaving to serve another mission.  That would not have been good to have to resign part way through a term of serving in order to serve a mission, like he had to do when he was serving on the City Council prior to our going on our mission to Finland.  BUT he did get involved in several small committees and has graciously stepped back from those over the past 3 - 4 weeks.  This foto was taken with some of the Design Committee for Main Street as they 'cleaned up' Square Corner Park across the street from City Hall.

National Council For Adoption:  I have already mentioned about our Church-Service Mission in this advocacy organization which the Church has helped sponsor for more than the 30 plus years it has been in existence.  Another hard thing to back out of and walk away from!

Washington D.C. Temple:  This is probably one of the hardest to 'walk away' from!  This temple has been a part of our lives since before we were even married!  We sang in the choir at the ground breaking ceremony while we were attending the Singles Ward in Washington D.C. in 1968!  We got married right after that ground-breaking ceremony in the Logan, Utah Temple (closest one to us while growing up here in the East).  After finishing Medical School at George Washington University Medical School, internship at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City and then 2 years Navy service as a Medical Officer living in Guam, we returned to our home-land of Maryland to set up our Medical Practice in Brunswick, Maryland.   We returned in May 1974 and the Temple Dedication was in November 1974.  How wonderful it was for us to be able to attend that temple dedication.  Wayne and I were set apart as Ordinance Workers in October 1994!  President Bradley was the Temple President with President Roueche was his first counselor.  President Roueche was the one who actually set us apart.  He had been a stake president in Northern Virginia after we got married.  Wayne was actually ordained as a Sealer in the Washington D.C. Temple in 1995....at that time one of the youngest in the Church.  Elder L. Tom Perry was the one who ordained him.  What a special blessing to be able to sit with him and be interviewed!  And since that time in 1994 we have worked in the Washington D.C. Temple.  Our service there was only interrupted for 2 years when we were called to serve a full-time mission as Temple Missionaries in the Finland Helsinki Temple for 2 years.  Upon our return from that mission we were again set apart as Ordinance Workers int he Washington D.C. Temple where we have been working since May 2011.  And we find ourselves reluctantly leaving that in order to serve this mission.  At our release this time we were serving as Shift Coordinators on Friday mornings and Baptistry Directors on Saturday morning.  Wednesday mornings we were on a 'regular line' so that Wayne could participate as a Sealer.....his primary responsibility in the Temple.  We have been so blessed by our being able to work in Temples for the past 20 years.  We look forward to our return here again in sumer 2016!  This foto was taken our last day in the temple until our return.....Saturday, May 24, 2014 at about 6:00 a.m. as we arrived.  Notice how high the sun was at that time of the morning!  Love this time of the year!

Wayne's serving on the High Council:  Now, this one may not be finished until we actually leave for our mission in one week!!  Wayne has served on the High Council since our release as Church-Service Missionaries in April 2013.  His responsibility has been over the Young Single Adult Program in the Stake.  He has done a wonderful job with this program.  It has seen many changes over the past year.  He will be missed.

Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching:  We both were released from this for the month of May so we could prepare to get ready for our mission.  We will probably not have that responsibility while we are serving on our mission because we will be quite busy.  We will see.  I am sure we will be reassigned once we return in 2016!

Our Talks in Brunswick Ward today......With our talks in church today, that was like the 'final' that we really are going on another mission!!  We started our day by attending Urbana Ward to hear Tina speak!  She did a beautiful job in talking about 'Obedience'!  It was great to be with their family there!  Then it was over to our ward to speak in Sacrament Meeting.  It was good to be able to do that.  Now, with that completed we feel like we can actually get a LOT of packing accomplished this week and get our home ready for our being gone!

Here is the program from our Brunswick Ward Sacrament Meeting this morning.  It was so fun to have Steven being the Chorister for the meeting!!  The foto of Wayne and I was taken right after Sacrament Meeting outside of our building.

How fun to have one of my best friends show up in church today wearing GREEN!!!  Only best friends can do that and know what the other is thinking without uttering a word!  You are GREAT Guyanna Shank!!  I will note that the cross stitch pictures hanging on the wall behind our heads was a project I was asked to oversee some 20 years ago in our Frederick Maryland Stake.  I made the picture of Emma and Joseph.

It has been a wonderful Sabbath Day.....so many wonderful things happening!  We feel so blessed!

Let me recap a minute as to how we got to this point of our 'retirement years'!   I might say it has been a wonderful 5 1/2 years since that retirement in August 2008.  We have had so many wonderful opportunities that we never dreamt would be ours.

Once Wayne retired from his Medical Practice in August of 2008 we were asked by President Luthy (Helsinki Finland Temple President) if we would be willing to come to Finland and serve as Temple Missionaries for 18 months.  Of course we were thrilled with the idea of being able to do that.  Wayne served a mission in Finland as a young missionary from 1962 - 1965 (2 1/2 years for foreign missions back in the day).

This foto was taken of us as we finished our last shift in the Temple the day before we left Finland after two years (yes, we extended another 6 months from our original 18 months.....we loved the people and the country so much we left a huge part of us there....hopeful that some day we could go back and serve another mission there again!).   That was April 2011.

 Once arriving home in April 2011we were given an Honorable Release as full-time missionaries and extended a new call to serve as Church-service Missionaries with LDS Family Services working specifically with the National Council For Adoption in Alexandria, Virginia.  This was also an 18 month mission.  However, we just don't know how to sit still so it actually ended up being another 2 year mission.  Once we were released from that in March 2013 we continued on for another year as 'volunteers' because we couldn't just walk away (with no replacements being in place for us when we left).  That was such a wonderful experience being able to be involved with the great work of helping to create eternal families.  Most of the folks we worked with were good Christian folks and very appreciative of the work we were doing.  Our commute was an 'awful' commute.....about 2 hours each way!  Although a nice scenic drive it was still not fun in the horrible traffic everyday!  The foto below was taken of us on our last day in the office on April 1, 2014.  We simply had to 'retire' from there because we had received our next mission call!!

And here we are.....ready to embark on yet our next mission assignment....our THIRD MISSION!  We are excited about this new opportunity.  Wayne had been asked way back at the first mission call if he would be willing to serve as a Medical Missionary.  He needed a little 'break

 from the medical part of his life.  I think he really enjoyed doing these other missions for the variety. However, while we were serving in Finland he was asked to take care of the Medical needs of the missionaries who were serving there.  He was happy to do that.  He was like an 'extension' of the Area Medical Advisor in Frankfurt Germany.

We now find ourselves with a new opportunity.  Wayne has been called as the AREA MEDICAL ADVISOR for the NorthAmerica SouthEast Area.  I have been called as THE ASSISTANT TO THE AREA MEDICAL ADVISOR.  I have been 'practicing' mine for the last 45 years.  I hope I will be able to assist Wayne well!  

We will be serving in the states of GEORGIA, NORTH CAROLINA, SOUTH CAROLINA, TENNESSEE AND KENTUCKY.  Our apartment will be located in Peachtree City (south Atlanta).  Our call is for 2 years!  We report to the MTC Provo on June 9th, 2014.  We will be there for 2 weeks....first week will be 'Preach My Gospel'.  The second week will be in Salt Lake City and it will be 'Medical Training'.  

The foto above is the one we chose for our 'official' Mission foto.  I might just add a side note here.  When we came home from our mission to Finland and service as Church-service Missionaries our oldest son, Jonathan, was diagnosed with stage 4 color cancer in December 2011.  He fought a good fight.  He passed away on September 12, 2012.   The entire family rallied around Jonathan and Tina and their 4 children (Tyler, Spencer, Garrett and Kristyn) during the 9-month battle.  His cancer was very aggressive and difficult.  In the end we all knew that the Lord had a bigger assignment for Jonathan and was needed on the other side of the veil.  We felt the love of our family, many many friends and especially the Lord as we struggled through this.  We were so grateful we were able to be home at this difficult time.  The Lord has a way of having things work out just the way He wants them to....even though sometimes we might wonder.  There were so very many tender mercies and miracles through that 9 months.  We felt the time was right for us to now serve this mission.  And, again, feel so blessed for this opportunity to serve our 3rd mission.

I might just mention a little about this mission.  My great-great grandfather and great-great grandmother joined The Church in 1872 in Mt. Airy, North Carolina......Dr. James Dickerson Dean and Esther Hiatt.  I am sure they went through many trials as they faithfully served others in the church in that area.  Being in the 'bible belt' in a Southern Baptist area was not easy.  Even for me growing up in that area we were constantly frowned upon as members of the church!  Now to be serving a mission in the same area where my family joined the church, I feel it is a real honor to be able to do this.

And the story begins of our 3rd mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!