Author: Angela

I write so my family will always have letters from home.

MMSK and Conference

Before Mark was set apart as a missionary, he wanted one last gathering with his Sanchez cousins who are his age, so we invited them to spend part of conference weekend here. MMSK is pronounced “misk,” and it’s an acronym of their names. Mostly, there was a lot of nonsense going on as they “watched conference”, but I think that the time together was important.

Mark and Richard attended a session of General Conference on Sunday. They brought the binoculars, which was a great idea.

Mark’s last traditional general conference tower for a while.

When Mark sent in his mission papers last spring, I assumed he would be on a mission long before now. We’ve had a long preparation period, which was good in many ways and challenging in others.

We had time for more spiritual preparation and temple worship. Mark received mentoring in Preach My Gospel and got some work experience from his Sanchez grandparents. We had time to travel this summer.

The long wait means that the bandaid is being removed very slowly. I am pretty fragile lately.

Now that Mark has had a few days of home MTC, he is excited to go to the Provo MTC next week. Everything is as it should be: the wait, the anticipation, the emotions accompanying a goodbye, the excitement, his assignment. Everything.

Mark’s Woods Project 2024

Mark made this bed frame and two side shelves with cabinets during the 2023-24 school year. Getting everything set up in his room has taken some time this summer, and the furniture is beautiful.

The painting was a gift, a very generous gift, and the mountains remind me of our trip to the Grand Tetons this summer.

I have learned a secret about the spaces and rooms that missionaries leave behind. They are holy places because they represent many of the things they have sacrificed in order to serve.

Goblin Valley and a hike through Ding and Dang Canyon

Richard and Mark were the advance party for a trip to Goblin Valley for the Young Men, traveling there a day early to claim a good campsite. Because they did this, there was an established camp ready when the young men arrived, making it possible to do a long hike before dark.

Mark and Richard spent a night beneath the bright stars together before the others arrived. It sounds pretty ideal.

Richard introduced the group to the hike through Ding and Dang Canyon. It was a challenging hike, and the boys had a wonderful time. It sounds like a successful campout. Well done, Richard and Mark!

Wintering

I read an interesting book by Katherine May recently. It was a memoir of a time of severe health challenges that forced her to “winter” for a while. She used examples from nature to describe the necessity of winters, plus strategies to get through a season of darkness or change. She discovered that there was wisdom and a new life to be found as she faced her winter.

Transformation is the business of winter.

The loose communities that we find in spiritual or religious gatherings were once entirely ordinary to us, but now it seems more radical to join them, a brazen challenge to the strictures of the nuclear family, the tendency to stick within tight friendship groups, the shrinking away from the awe- inspiring. Congregations are elastic, stretching to take in all kinds of people and bringing up unexpected perspectives and insights. We need them now more than ever.

But if happiness is a skill, then sadness is, too. Perhaps through all those years at school, or perhaps through other terrors, we are taught to ignore sadness, to stuff it down into our satchels and pretend it isn’t there. As adults, we often have to learn to hear the clarity of its call. That is wintering. It is the active acceptance of sadness. It is the practice of allowing ourselves to feel it as a need. It is the courage to stare down the worst parts of our experience and to commit to healing them the best we can. Wintering is a moment of intuition, our true needs felt keenly as a knife.

In our winter, a transformation happened. We read and worked and problem- solved and found new solutions. We changed our focus away from pushing through with normal life and towards making a new one. When everything is broken, everything is also up for grabs. That’s the gift of winter: it’s irresistible. Change will happen in its wake, whether we like it or not. We can come out of it wearing a different coat.

Here is another truth about wintering: you’ll find wisdom in your winter, and once it’s over, it’s your responsibility to pass it on. And in return, it’s our responsibility to listen to those who have wintered before us.

All quotes are from Katherine May’s Wintering: the Power of Rest and Retreat during Difficult Times.

how it’s going

I think that my current anxieties about getting the right clothing for Mark’s mission are because I know that these are some of the last tangible things that I can do for him. We are moving into a different phase where my help shifts almost completely to intangibles. I am crying every day, as one does at such a time.

He has clothing for Arctic temperatures and rain and a lifetime of other preparation. We now have just a few minor things to purchase.

All I need to do is look outside to see my annual “missionary sunflowers” (which first showed up when Daniel left on his mission) for a reminder that God is taking care of everything for Mark. And He allows me to do the very motherly thing to shop for the right coat.