The Long Awaited Delivery

 

This beautiful orange, white, and purple truck pulled up in front of our house today. Our daughter Kellie was visiting and yelled, "A Fed Ex truck just pulled up." Completely unbecoming of a future Mission President's wife, I started screaming and dancing as I held the letter in my hand. I'm positive the driver could hear Kellie and I as he walked up to the door.
Embarrassing? Yes! Exciting? Yes, Yes, Yes!

 

We waited until evening to open our letter. The wonderful news is that President Tye and I will preside over the
Philippines Cavite Mission.
What a thrill it was when we found out that we would be opening a new mission in the Philippines.

 

Immediately I was so calm - like the spirit was bearing witness to me that Cavite was exactly where we were supposed to be. We quickly checked out Google Earth to see where Cavite is located. President Tye served in the Philippines Manila Mission between the years of 1975 - 1977, but he spent most of those two years in the northern part of Luzon. Cavite is south of Manila and will be a new adventure for both of us.

 

Above all else, we are thankful to our Heavenly Father for the trust and confidence He has in us. We can't wait for the opportunity to witness and be a part of the hastening of the work. What a thrill it will be to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement.

  

We know we will love the Filipino people with all our heart and we are very anxious to meet the missionaries who will bring blessings upon this area.

Taking Care Of Business

We still do not know where we will be serving as Mission President, but in the mean time we have so many things to do in preparation for the day we leave. "Overwhelmed" is a perfect word to describe how we are feeling as we look ahead to what the next four months will be like.

The tender mercies started coming as soon as the call was made to us. Our son graduated in December from Utah State with a degree in Marketing and immediately found employment with a fantastic company in Duluth, Georgia. His twin sister is getting married on June 8th, which was planned long before our call came and yet the wedding will take place 2 weeks before we enter the MTC on June 22nd. My mother, who has been living with us, found a place to live and will be loved and taken care of while we are away. Our car and Doug's beloved Gold Wing sold in record time. We are still not sure what we will do with our home. We keep going back and forth between selling it or renting it.

Most of our time is being spent in preparing for the mission by studying Preach My Gospel and working with a tutor at the Provo MTC. We have also listened to the CD's of last years Mission President's Seminar - which are amazing. We are so happy and blessed to be involved with this work!

A Call From President Uchtdorf

We started out the new year with another phone call from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but this time we had been anticipating it. The good news was that I didn't completely zone out this time - I was alert and coherent when I heard the secretary say, "Sister Tye, President Uchtdorf would like to visit with you and Br. Tye on Friday January 4th at 9:00 a.m. Will this work for you?"
We arrived at the Administration Building on that Friday morning feeling very nervous and also extremely calm. We were fasting and I know that provided the strength to allow the calmness to overtake the nerves!

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf extended the call as Mission President to Doug, then I received a call as a missionary and a companion to my husband. I liked the 'companion' calling - I thought that was really neat! We were sealed as eternal companions 35 years ago in the Salt Lake Temple, but to have one of the First Presidency identify our companionship as a calling, gave me a better understanding of my duty and responsibility to my husband. We were also told that we would preside over an English speaking mission. 

What an amazing few months this has been for Doug and I. We never dreamed that we would be so fortunate in our lifetime to have two personal interviews with, and sit across from a member of the Twelve Apostles and a counselor in the First Presidency of the Church. We are so thankful to our Heavenly Father for this opportunity and pray that we will be worthy of His continued love and confidence in us.