Honestly I had no idea how we would make it.
He planned out what would need to happen financially.
A month after Josh left on his mission, Craig lost his job in Cortez Colorado. He found another job, but not at the same level. Hospital administrator jobs are not really plentiful.
We stayed through the end of the year and let Boaz finish out his freshman year. We had just closed on our beautiful house in Mancos.
I had a job that I really loved at Fort Lewis College in Durango.
We made it work, but we tightened our belts.
Craig found a job before the end of the school year in Salmon Idaho. It was closer to Idaho Falls and his mom. She was getting older and we wanted to be closer. We ended up being there on weekends for the last six months of her life. We are grateful for that time we had to be with her.
We weren’t able to sell our lovely house. We carried it for two years thinking we would be able to sell eventuality and get out the equity. For part of that time we had a young couple stay in it and they paid about half of the mortgage.
When we finally ended up selling, we made nothing on it. In fact we ended up having to pay a bit to the bank to get rid of it.
That part of our financial plan obviously didn’t work. We were a bit angry. Houses were selling in three hours in other parts of the country. And our house languished for years.
We began again.
A year ago Craig lost his job again. This time Boaz had one year left of high school and he was part of a group of the best friends he had ever had.
It seems that small town politics are more important than having a healthy business plan.
He found a job in Boise. But the family stayed in Salmon. We decided to keep Boaz here to finish out his senior year. Boise had large town politics. And Craig was missing out on Josh and Boaz’s last time together. We decided to have him come back. But again, hospital administrator jobs were non existent. So he took a job at half the pay.
It was absolutely the right decision, but hard to take on a pride level. A much better work environment. Craig made an eternal friend and nourished existing friendships.
With all that we thought we could make it and then Craig lost his memory for a day. He spent the night in the hospital. After insurance we owed $6,000.00. There was no way we could see past this latest blow. We gave up on our plan.
With the financial setbacks we faced, we couldn’t see a way forward with our desire and plan to serve a mission.
Then Craig was called to teach the missionary prep class for Boaz and his friends. It was hard to ignore the teaching of have faith and things will work out.
He decided to look into it once more and found a way. That way involved miracles and a knowledge that Christ was in charge. He always saw a way forward.
We turned in our papers. A lot of things to get ready. A very specific time line to hit. We wanted to leave after Boaz and get back before him.
Craig posted this when we got our call.
We had been interested in Peru ever since Josh was called there. Craig had listed Iquitos at first and Josh told him to take it off the list. It is in the Amazon Jungle.
When Josh was in the MTC in Lima, a missionary asked if they needed to worry about safety. The teacher said, “No, not in Peru. Wait, are any of you going to Iquitos? No? Then you have nothing to worry about.”
Josh was a bit freaked out when we opened our call. But we feel confident that is the place we are called to go.
There are pink river dolphins, sloths, monkeys, and jungle birds and butterflies. As well as huge spiders, piranhas and anacondas. And mosquitoes. Lots of them.
We will be fine.
Bug spray and permethrin will be our friends, even though they are toxic themselves. We must learn to use them safely.
We listed we wanted to be the office couple. We had that call for maybe two weeks. Now we are MLS missionaries. Before we would be in Iquitos. We would have a nice apartment and have access to what Iquitos had to offer. As a city of 600,000 people, that would be a lot. We knew what to imagine our mission would be like. Now we have no idea where we will be or what we will be doing. Craig now is required to learn Spanish. (He is studying every day.)
One of his favorite quotes is: “the true church is not only to comfort the afflicted, but to afflict the comfortable.” Harold B Lee.
So we have compiled papers for our visa applications. Peru is now one of the hardest countries to get a visa. We are also getting our shots. I wasn’t vaccinated as a child, so I have to get every shot listed.
This past Monday I got stabbed three times. Next month I have to get stabbed three times again. We are taking the oral typhoid vaccine for the next week.
Those were the first two critical things on my list. I will look at the list again later.
I am still working and next week our office will be moving. One vital thing at a time.
