Our oldest daughter, Ali, is home from her 18 month mission! She's been serving as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the England Leeds Mission. We are so proud of her and her desire to serve the Lord. She's a great example to all of us. We are having an amazing reunion with our girl. Love her so much!!
Everyone is in the picture except Brandon (19) who's now living in New York. He'll be flying out in a couple weeks for the wedding and we'll all be together again. It's been 2 1/2 years since we've all been together as a family! I cannot wait!!
It's such a blessing to have Ali home safe and sound. I look forward to having all my kids back under the same roof and sitting around the table for a home cooked meal. It's been way too long!
Today we're picking up our son after serving his 2 year mission in The Netherlands teaching in Dutch. Here's a pic of him with some gorgeous tulips. We're going to tour his and my daughter's missions late Spring. I'm excited to see the fields of tulips and windmills as well as the beautiful sites of both England and The Netherlands!
We are extremely excited to have him home! We will be spending time together as family and will have lots of family and friends in town over the next couple weeks.
I will not be posting my 5 Fab Freebies Friday, or anything for that matter, for the next couple weeks.
I hope all is well with your families. Enjoy your time together - it's so precious.
Literally, my baby's on a mission! Our oldest daughter, Ali, decided over last Thanksgiving break that she would like to serve a mission for our church. She went through the process of filling out her paperwork and received her calling in May. She was called to serve in the England Leeds Mission and she reported to the Preston, England Missionary Training Center (MTC) on August 5. She left the MTC on August 26 and entered the mission field and is now serving in the small coastal town of Redcar. She is doing great and loving every minute of her mission so far. She has already learned so much about herself and is growing in the gospel daily through prayer, diligent study, and service. We're grateful to have children who are willing to give up all worldly things, school for a time, and precious time with family and friends to serve the Lord.
Btw, young men serve for 24 months and young women for 18 months. Ali will return home 3 and a half months after Jonathan, who is serving in the Belgium/Netherlands Mission.
Here are a few pics and the video of her opening her call.
One last family picture before she left for England.
Some of her friends coming by to wish her well and say goodbye.
Taken on our way to security at the airport... it was a difficult goodbye for all of us :(
Sister Stout with her MTC group. She in the second row back, 3rd in from the right.
She loves England!
Ali doing some street contacting.
LDS missionaries do not know where they will be called to serve. So opening that envelope is an exciting time for them and their families. Ali has always had a great desire to study and live in England, so when she received her call she and the entire family were very excited for her. She felt that Heavenly Father knew the righteous desires of her heart and sent her to a place she'd love to go. She said she'd be studying and the sharing the most important thing in the world while there - the gospel of Jesus Christ.
For those of you who are not members of our church, here is simple explanation of what our missionaries do.
