A letter from South Africa

This morning I woke up and checked my emails to delete the usual spam. To my everlasting delight I received the following letter from one of the families in the ward in which Elder Armstrong is currently serving in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. As everyone knows...anytime you can hear about your children in far away places...it's a good day. Below is what she wrote....

Hi Sis Armstrong I thought you might like a message from someone in the ward where your son is presently working. I know when my sons and grandsons were on mission I would like to have heard from someone in the wards where they laboured. We had him to a meal last Sunday and I want to tell you that my husband and I were very impressed with him. We found him charming, good to talk to and with a lovely spirit about him. The ONLY missionary in the last few years who has offered to wash the dishes! Not that I would let him but the offer was there and I was impressed. Well done! You and your husband have obviously been exemplary parents. He seems to be well and happy. Thank you for allowing him to come to South Africa. He’s doing a good job. If you ever come out to South Africa we would really like to meet you. Sincerely Joy Caine

I will write her a letter back today...so good to hear he is loving those around him, and willing and ready to serve even with the dishes! Don't worry Joy...we are coming to South Africa and we can't wait to meet you too!:)

Six Month Surprise.....BEST BUMP DAY EVER!

Knowing Elder Armstrong's six month mark was quickly approaching, also knowing Elder Armstrong has been in kind of a slump in his new area, I knew he REALLY needed a big hug from home. So I recruited the help of one Anthony's biggest fans in South Africa, Sophia and Gene Brown. They are a family that is very special to him. During the first four and a half months of his mission, Anthony served in the Phoenix area. (South Africa, not Arizona :) Working together...they grew very close. Many tears were shed when he left the area. He often referred to her as his "second mom" when he wrote home and told me all the time that she reminded him a lot of me. (watch out world, there's two of me! Lord knows we'd have to be on apposite sides of the planet or the world may not be able to handle it! Although her skin is much more beautiful..!) It's such a blessing to have people love your children in your absence, she fed him very well too! (He was 25 pounds heavier when he left Phoenix, although she can not be blamed single handedly, there were a lot of wonderful members there that fed them well!) Sometimes, to quote Elder Armstrong..."we ate dinner every two hours today, it was like eating Thanksgiving 5 times." At any rate, through facebook and a lovely message she sent me thanking me for the son I sent on a mission...we very quickly have become sisters in Christ. We are so much a like, and are able to talk very openly about life, struggles and family life. She is a very big blessing to me, as well as Elder Armstrong. :) So now that I had a partner in crime, we devised a plan. Elder Armstrong had been transferred about an hour away from her. She quickly agreed that it was no problem to drive there. So I told her we would all write letters to him. Then we thought balloons would be nice. She asked me how many, I said 24 should do it. (HELLO! they have to fit in the car!) So, she being the reasonable one, got what could actually fit. We thought it would be fun to get some balloons with 6's on them, she couldn't find any so she improvised and drew some 6's on the white ones. When she asked me what color, I told her black and red were Anthony's favorite colors since he was a die hard Utah fan, but told her to throw some blue and white in there since he got into BYU...and we need to quickly acclimate him to being a cougar fan or risk getting lynch mobbed every Friday night at the football games in his Utah gear. So black, red, blue and white it is! Then I sent Sophie a family picture to print off. We had them taken just before he left, and wanted to give him a picture of his family, since I am almost positive he didn't leave with one, with all the hustle and bustle of trying to get him ready. (Duh mom, it should have been the first thing you packed him!) Then, he had been begging for me to send him and American Football. Sophie wasn't sure what that was, since they play rugby and soccer in South Africa....I tried to describe it as a smaller, more pointy rugby ball or an egg shaped pointy ball...then I thought, do they even eat eggs? Anyway, finally the though occurred to me to just tell her to google it! Thank you INTERNET! She told me she was looking up go kart places to take him and then I told her that combined with a yummy lunch should be the perfect day for any mormon! We agreed that I would call her to make sure she made it and everything went ok. We are about nine hours different, so we both stayed up way late multiple nights trying to plan it....put two mom's together with an agenda, there's nothing we can't achieve...:) The next night (morning for her) she had called his companion to get him in on the act. He conspired to meet at the church at around 1pmish...he had run all the errands...printed all the letters, family pictures...couldn't find the football, but found a mall where she could take Elder Armstrong to get one. I called her to make sure things were going ok, other than things taking longer since she couldn't find the football...everything was good. She told me to call her back....just to make sure. So about an hour later I called her and she was just driving up. Elder Armstrong saw her car and started running over to her....He was so excited! Gene got out with the balloons and I could hear him in the background hugging them and saying thank you...It was so awesome!!! She handed him the letters and the family picture and then "he got something in his eye" according to Sophie. Then I heard a little scuffle and muffle, thinking maybe they are just all in the moment and were hanging up.....I was about to hang up myself..but when I heard him say..."is that my mom? your going to get me in trouble... I kind of froze...Sophie being the lovely person that she is, said, "talk to your mother." I wasn't expecting that! I honestly have been so good about keeping the rules and being so obedient... I didn't have a chance to say a word, nor would I ever offend the person that made my son's day and went to all this work. It was a sacrifice that needed to be made people! (To show gratitude and all. ;) So I got to talk to my bestie... It was seriously so awesome...even though I felt guilty. Then when he told me some of the things he was going through, I realized Sophie was very inspired. He really needed it, perspective and encouragement. I gave him a good quick "momma talk" boosting him up. Then he asked to talk to Drew so I went downstairs and woke Drew up, and said, "Hey, it's your brother." And then Anthony..said..."Drew?" Drew quickly woke up and said..."Anthony?" Anthony spoke quickly...he said that while he was on his mission he had learned a lot, especially about family...and that he felt bad about not being the big brother he should have been and made a promise that when he got home he would make it all up to him. He thanked him for all his hard work mowing lawns to help pay for Anthony's mission...then he said he would never forget it and plans on returning the favor. Drew's tears said it all. What a huge blessing for our boys to have that. We quickly said our goodbyes and let Sophie and Gene spend the rest of the time with them. Before he let me go, he did say..."Thanks Mom, the last two days have been so hard. You have no idea how much I really, really needed this. Elder Armstrong had an appointment at 5,(the mission must go on...work must go forward!) So they couldn't go out to eat, or do go karts but they went to the mall to get the football he'd been begging for. Thanks so much to my sweet friend Sophie (and Gene) for making it all possible. :)Yea for a great day! PS...No one better make me feel guilty about the phone call...it wasn't planned! but it was definitely appreciated and needed.) I prayed about it yesterday and I am square with God. :)