Most of this is copy and pasted from an email from my mom.
So around the 1st of October Elder Perry´s secretary called to set up an appointment via Skype for us to talk with Elder Perry. Dad spoke with her on Thursday, the 3rd and she told us he wanted to meet with us, but it would have to be after general conference. So she made an appointment with us to visit with him on Wednesday the 9th. That is when he met with us via Skype and asked us a bunch of questions. He mentioned it was an exploratory interview and that nothing may come of it. He held up a file folder and said the brethren knew a lot about us. He was so kind and joked around a bit. He asked us if we had ever been to Riggins Idaho. We told him no. He told us that if we ever go drive slow, it is the only time he ever got a speeding ticket. He said the speed limit in the entire town is only 25, then he laughed. At the end of the 35-40 minute interview he said we may hear back from the brethren or we may not, and to not mention this call to anyone.
Now its me, Jeree talking ;)
At this point my brothers and I had no idea about any of this. One day my mom text me and says they want us to come over because they are going to by skyping with Bill and Alex and want to tell us all something. So me, being the most paranoid person on the planet, automatically assumes one of them has cancer and they are going to die...OR that they got a call to be mission presidents. SO, we went to their house on the 30th of October (they had gotten the call Fed Exed to them on the 28th) and my brothers are on the computer and phone, and my parents open the call DUN DUN DUN!!! "Where are you going?" We all ask immediately! BUT THEY DIDN'T KNOW YET! What a disappointment. LOL. We were all so excited and everyone started guessing where they would go. We all knew it would be Spanish speaking, that part was confirmed. My mom thought they would go to Columbia, drug capital of the world, and that they would die there. My dad was hoping to go to his mission in Chile. I had no idea, and I can't remember what my brothers guessed.
In December they received the paper work that told us where they were going. We all got on Skype and facetime with my parents and they read their specific call out loud over the phone and computer. I think everyone was so relieved and excited to hear it was Ecuador. As far as we all knew it was a pretty mellow country as far as drugs and killings hahaha. Alex immediately googled it finding out what the whether was like there and started planning a trip there. Everyone asks if we are going to visit them...HECK NO it's really expensive to get there!! But I think Alex and Ana will go.
It was December 21st when they were allowed to make it public to everyone that they would be serving as mission president and where they would be going.
From October until they reported in June of 2014, it was a roller coaster of emotions. We were all excited, but of course sad that our parents would be gone for 3 years. I knew Chloe would be devastated. She's done pretty well so far, sometimes when we are facetiming and its time to say good bye, she gets teary eyed. But I'm so proud of how well she has held it together. Of course it was stressful for my parents as well. They had to pack up their house, rent it out, sell their cars, and as much furniture and junk as possible, and be trained for their mission all in just 6 months.
Unlike regular missionaries who go to the MTC for 3-9 weeks, mission presidents do the majority of their training over Skype and phone calls. They had 3 or 4 appointments every week, and then spent about a week in the MTC with all of the other couples that would be reporting at the same time.
We got to facetime with them last night. They are doing well and they LOVE serving the missionaries and the Lord.
I am so lucky to have such amazing parents who are so strong and great examples of disciples of Christ!!
The next post will be about them being set apart. It's a pretty good story ;)
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