Bentonville, AR and Easter

The college kids did a lot traveling to be with us in the last week or so. 

First there was the drive to the cabin for Conference and sandbagging (not out of the way for Goldie--we just picked her up and dropped her off as we came and went; but it turns Abe and Daisy's one-and-a-half-hour drive home into a three-hour drive).

Then, just two days after they'd all gotten themselves settled back in their dorms and apartments, we got this text from Goldie:

There followed a stream of texts back and forth among the phone-owners of the family (me, Mike and the oldest five). Goldie, knowing the weather was bad--with snow predicted all day--and trying to be considerate of her siblings having just done so much driving, tried to say she'd just wait to open her call on the weekend since they'd all be home again for Easter. But Abe, ignoring her text completely, insisted he and Daisy could leave for home as early as noon. And I insisted I wanted nothing more than to drive up to Logan to pick up Goldie (she has the truck with the bald tires up there--not great for snow driving). (And I did want nothing more than to drive up and get her! Even if she could wait till the weekend, I wasn't sure I could!) And Penny texted that she'd found someone to cover her shift at work that night so she could be home. And the kids began sticking up guesses on the map in Abe's bedroom of where she might be called.

And without too much more coaxing, it was all arranged; and with Penny left to tend kids here (thank goodness it was Spring Break), I was on my way through a wet, and snowy Sardine Canyon, with the confidence the 4-wheel-drive and knobbly-wheels of the Bronco lent me, to pick up our Goldie. 

And then we were back, and cleaning and picking up donuts and pizzas and gathering people from the cold and snow to find out where Goldie would be going!

And, when she read "Bentonville, Arkansas", I couldn't have been more surprised than if she'd been called to the North Pole! It just wasn't a place I'd ever even thought of in my life. (Though Jesse guessed Oklahoma--and part of her mission boundaries stretch into OK, as well as into Kansas and Missouri). But one of the things I love about a mission call is that quite suddenly, a place you are sure you've never heard anyone mention, seems to be connected to a million people you know. And quite suddenly it becomes a place of character and possibility that surely your child must come to know! Daisy gave Goldie a Bentonville, AR mission necklace a few days after she received her call. Goldie was wondering if she could start wearing it already--when she hasn't technically been there yet. And it seemed to me: "Yes! It's claimed you already! It is your place now! Wear the necklace!"

And truly, in the few short days since she received her call, it does seem it's claimed her. Or perhaps we've claimed it! Suddenly this unknown place is: The Ozarks! And world-class mountain-biking trails (trails that some of our loved ones have actually ridden without us having even known it)! And the performers of Branson, MO! And cicadas! And pounding rain and thunderstorms like we know from GA! And assurances and warnings of culture shock to be experienced. :) A friend who had just been there over Spring Break was messaging me about all the waterfalls Goldie could hike on p-days and sending videos of things like the frogs and buzzing insects she'd paused to record on an early morning trail ride. A girl Abe taught in the MTC had just returned from that mission and was texting Goldie the next morning. A temple we hadn't paid any heed to would be dedicated in Bentonville just after Goldie's arrival. Another had been announced for Springfield, MO (also in her mission) at just this last General Conference. My brother John knew a stake president in the area. Megan (who lived in Branson for a spell) was calling to exclaim excitedly that Goldie would be going to dinner in the trendy downtown one minute and teaching the gospel to someone making moonshine in the backwoods the next. An acquaintance at college was telling her about a friend in that mission who would wake every morning (in the trailer park they were living in) to the sounds of their neighbor shooting at armadillos. And just today Goldie texted me that as she walked out from doing baptisms for the dead in the Logan temple this morning, someone from her ward happened to ask her where she was going on her mission. Just as Goldie said, "Bentonville, AR" a girl she had never seen before--heading past them in the opposite direction-- stopped and gasped, "Wait! Did you just say Arkansas? Bentonville, Arkansas?? I just got home from there!" That little experience reminded me of Elder Bednar saying, "I testify that the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Often, the Lord's timing of His tender mercies helps us to both discern and acknowledge them." 

I acknowledge them! And in just one short week, The Bentonville, AR Mission has become the one place in the world it seems sure that Goldie should be!

And, while that seems like a rousing note to end on, I did say that this post would mention all the driving to and from home these college kids did in a week's time. So we must press on. 

Abe and Dais drove back to Provo, and Mike drove Goldie back to Logan on very snowy roads that Tuesday night after Goldie's call (and after they all went to watch Dungeons and Dragons :)). And then Saturday they were all back again for Easter. (Daisy took the front runner earlier on Saturday. But Abe, driving alone late that night, had a pipe that came off of a truck in front of him screech along the hood of his car before tearing his passenger side mirror off. I did not like at all thinking what might have happened had it gone through his windshield or even sent him swerving into other lanes of traffic at freeway speeds! But I was prayerfully grateful he was kept safe.)

It was a very happy Easter. I loved Elder Stevenson's most recent General Conference talk about making Easter a much bigger focus on Christ. And, while I haven't established a lot of Christ-centered activities yet (one fun thing about having so many children is you have ... so many years to make new traditions if you feel you'd like to!), but I did talk to the kids all week about the events leading up to and through Christ's death and resurrection. And it made the triumph of Easter morning feel all the more real for me. All week, about every hard thing that came to my awareness, I kept feeling this rejoicing, "The victory over this is already won! It is already sure!"

And, of course, nothing makes me happier than a bench at church with all ten of my kids filling it! So. A rejoicing day!

(We made a fun little Eastery faux-stained-glass window with painter's tape and washable paint a few days before Easter.)

(Daisy and Starling on their way to church. I love living close enough to walk.)