Mission Reunion

We spent the day doing some shopping, visiting, baking, etc.  Then, it was time to get ready and head to the University of Utah Institute of Religion building where our 20 year mission reunion was being held! We'd told Soeur Allen (our mission mom) that we would come early to help set up.

It was wonderful to see President and Soeur Allen again!  They haven't changed a bit - they are such as warm and happy as they were 20 years ago.  It was a little weird to find out that they were the same age as I am right now when they were called to be our mission president.  (Yikes!)  It was great to finally get a big hug from President Allen!

They had a lot of write-ups and memories from missionaries displayed and it was neat to read and remember.  There were lots of family pictures too that were fun to see.

I was SO thankful that my picture was NOT displayed!  (I have it at home!)  These pictures were used in the mission field to show companionships and what cities we served in.  My picture was so horrible (I'd got caught in a rain/wind storm and still took the picture anyway - what was I thinking?!) Everyone got a kick out of seeing our 20 year younger selves... and sometimes it was the only way we recognized each other - by matching up names!

 Everyone brought snacks to share and I loved seeing the large cowbell displayed.  It made me ache to head back to Switzerland.  We have yet to make it back - but we will... someday!

As people arrived and came in to the gym, I was excited to see my very last companion that I'd had in the field - Soeur John!  We haven't seen each other since the mission field, so it was great to catch up a bit.  She's still just as hilarious as I remember!

After visiting in the gym for a couple hours, we all went in to the chapel for a program. I really just wanted to keep visiting (if truth be told), but I wasn't prepared for the overwhelming feeling of mission unity that I felt as the chapel filled and we opened with the hymn "Tout au sommet des monts".  What a power to hear us all singing in french again.  It has been far too long!  President Allen did a quick - "Where did you come from?" and a "What cities did you serve in?" activity.  Mission slang was shared and laughed at.  Elder Van Tonder sang 'Souviens Toi".  President and Soeur Allen told us about their recent mission service in Lebanon.  It was just a wonderful experience to feel like we were missionaries again.  We finished the meeting with the song "Faith in Every Footstep" - a song we sang frequently in the mission field.  

We were able to keep visiting in the gym afterwards and get some pictures taken!

 Soeur Syzmanski came with her husband, David.  She served in the same city as Lennard.

 Here's the one and only picture that Trisha and I managed to get together!

Of course, we had to get a picture with the Allen's!

 Lennard with a couple of his mission companions: Brandon Howard and Logan Clark.

 At the end of the evening, we managed to get a group picture of all the missionaries that were there.

We were almost the last to leave.  I am so grateful that we decided to attend.  It was such an amazing evening with so many wonderful memories shared.  I love that Lennard and I are able to share the same mission, even when our experiences were different.  It makes me want to go finish my mission albums that got started and never completed.  Our missions shaped us so much and we wouldn't have ever met if it hadn't been for our missions (not that that is why we went!).  We have been so blessed by serving missions.