Category: Missionary

Mother’s Day weekend 2025

Oh, my heart.
Echoes of their childhood building Legos
This is my new wallpaper for my phone. I boop his nose with my finger to unlock it.

I couldn’t visit my mom this year, but tried to write an extra good letter, which I realize now was probably inadequate with her living so far away from family. I like the concept of Mother’s Day. In practice, I understand that it can be hard to do it right.

There are some tongue in cheek remarks from me around Mother’s Day. For instance, sometime around March when the ads begin, I will ask Richard if he’s started planning gifts for the holiest day of the year, Mother’s Day. Gifts are not my love language, but I like to be with my family and I like their kind gestures. As the saying goes, my family “understood the assignment,” and made my weekend very special.

This year, I got to spend time with our 3 oldest kids. There was our trip to Alabama to see Paige and her family, then on Saturday, Daniel, Tim, and Richard washed our windows and we went to a movie together. I was able to connect with Mark and Paige on the phone on Sunday. Tim skipped his ward meeting to sit beside me in church, ensuring that I didn’t sit alone. My gifts were mostly sweets, which are perfect for me. Richard cooked dinner and we dined around a new rose bouquet.

I love our family. I love Richard. I love being a mom.

What an honor

I attended this young lady’s temple endowment this week and it was one of the biggest honors of my life to be included.

I remember my grandmother using the same word, “honored,” as she accompanied me for my endowment. I noted this, but didn’t understand why she would say it until I learned the significance of temple covenants for myself.

I think my grandmother understood that she was witnessing the sacred acts that would bring Heavenly Father closer to me and allow the Atonement of Jesus Christ to do its work in me…enabling me to overcome anything.

What an honor it is to witness the stunning grace of God for a loved one.

And we ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them;

Doctrine and Covenants 109:22

Spencers

Daniel Spencer Jr was the first ancestor in my family to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and his descendants can be found in many places. You can read about him here. He was a missionary, a mayor of Nauvoo, and a pioneer. During the last decades of his life he served as a stake president in Salt Lake City. One of my favorite facts about Daniel Spencer is that he was a missionary in England and visited many European countries, including Denmark, during this mission. So, Mark is following this ancestor’s path.

George Sterling Spencer was Daniel Spencer’s grandson. He built the original cabin on the land we still visit each summer which we call the Weber. Most of George Sterling Spencer’s children are listed below.

This week, Mark told me that he and his third cousin in the Spencer line, a fellow missionary, have been asked to do an Easter musical number together in Denmark. They are the great-great grandsons of the two brothers I have circled. The missionary’s first name? Spencer. 😄

Family history is really interesting when you begin to connect the dots from the past to the good things happening now.

16 years. 1 year. 6 months

Sixteen years today I began writing this blog. What do I think of that? I think it’s probably more than almost anyone needs or wants to read. But the blog is a personal accomplishment and I celebrate this milestone. Thanks for reading. 🩷

Little W— is one. 💙

Today I am also celebrating Mark, who has been a missionary for six months. He is serving in the mission office for a few hours a day and talking to people for the rest of the time. I miss him. It is hard to have him gone, but I know it’s the best thing. Perhaps I am more yielded and still about it than I think.

A block tower in honor of Mark, who always builds one during general conference. ♥️🐒

My letter to Mark this week

Dear Mark,

The day that you got hurt, you were probably in shock for many hours afterwards, dulling the reality of what you experienced. Perhaps there was some pain as the anesthetic wore off, and the reality of dealing with a cast is really a challenge. I know that it is no fun to have an illness or injury away from home. I remember being alone in the hospital in 2020 for many days. During that isolating and painful time, I came to hear God’s voice better than if I had spent those days happily at home. It was worth the pain to know the Lord better.

I hope that you feel our prayers for you and that the healing process is uncomplicated. I hope that you are able to manage any pain that you have. I hope that you will know God better through this experience. I think you were protected from worse injury. I think that you are going to be just fine. Before I knew that you were hurt, I experienced a really calm feeling that morning, and I knew it was a spiritual impression. I think the Lord was preparing me. As I looked back on the day, I realized that the Lord really did “speak peace to my mind” to let me know that you were being cared for … even before I knew what happened.

Here are some things I observed about you as we interacted that day that make me proud of you.

  • Your first concern was my experience saying goodbye to the McLaughlins.
  • You were upbeat.
  • You were anxious to tell us about the baptism and confirmation. What a gift you provided through your righteous exercise of priesthood authority.
  • You are loved by the missionaries who know you.
  • You were concerned about the cost of medical care for us, and didn’t dwell on the negative part of your day. You were selfless and brave. I am proud of you.

Sending hugs,

Mom 

“Marked”

At the family cabin last summer, Mark hid and posed about 50 tiny monkeys for people to discover. I found one wrapped in twine attached to a plastic spider, as if it had been captured by the spider. When my mom found one in a funny place, she told me about it. I confessed to her that the whole cabin had been “Marked.”

Monkeys. Googly eyes on pictures. Funny scenes made with toys. Steadily, these things are spreading wherever Mark goes in the world. At home, I keep in place these little pieces of his humor. It is fun to be “Marked.”

Moving day

Daniel and McKenna are now Provo residents. We are thankful for all the pieces that came together so they could make this move. Daniel will no longer have that long commute to school at BYU.

We also had a video call with Elder Ross, so it was a bit of a reunion this afternoon.

Fun fact: I think that Tim is Daniel and McKenna’s landlord. 😄 Tim’s new adventure is that he is a property manager at my dad’s company.

Posting from the heart

Our kids didn’t have social media accounts until late in high school or after high school. This post showed up this week on Facebook from Mark, written in Danish. Missionaries in Denmark are having a lot of success on Facebook, which isn’t their generation’s social media platform of choice. So, despite being new to this part of the social media world, they post their hearts.