A new old tune

For five boys and ten years, my parents sang the same tune, as one by one, each of their sons answered the "call to serve".

A few years later, with returned missionaries married and having families, the same tune is being sung, this time they will be singing it as they have answered the call to serve in Utica, New York.

As was true of the previous mission calls to Brazil, Italy, Argentina, Germany, and Taiwan, family gathered, all 24 of us (sons, in-laws, grandchildren and two more in the oven) to guess and eagerly wait to hear the call from a prophet. The call came just two days after Thanksgiving, the perfect leftovers for Thanksgiving.

The mission call is a call for my dad to return to old stomping grounds as this was part of where he served his first mission. For my mom it is her pioneer experience for her to experience the joys of missionary service in the field.

There is not much time to tune up for this call to serve as they will be entering the MTC on January 3rd, a day before Melissa is due to deliver the baby.

And so in a few months we will experience the emotions that they felt for 10 years of absence, joy, anxiousness, and many others. But with these emotions we also sing the familiar phrases of, "Onward, ever onward, as we glory in His name". For we are grateful that they are singing this tune with faith and sacrifice as this is the same tune that we desire to have our children sing as they follow in the footsteps of these faithful missionaries who as of now have been "Called to Serve".