Craig is once again, Elder Oswald, and I am Sister (Hermana) Oswald.
We love our Stake President. He is so amazing.
We were assured of the love of God for each of us. We were blessed with health, love for the people, and language ability. And so many tender moments.
Craig has the ability to sense others. He felt his mom and dad, my dad, and his brother Jeffery. The happiness they all had for this new adventure we are having.
Mission Farewell Talk 2023
Who are we?
Why are we here?
Where are we going?
I’d like to talk about some of the answers to these questions by discussing some of my favorite songs and scriptures.
Who are we?
Some of my earliest memories are of my Grandmother, affectionately called “Little Grandma” by my siblings and I. I’m not too sure how she liked her name, but we all adored her. I remember climbing up on her lap and sitting facing her. She would sing “I Am a Child of God” and I learned this wonderful song cradled in her lap. In turn I sang this song to my babies as a lullaby each night as I put them to bed. I believe I have known this song my whole life. It is the earliest song in my memory. This song teaches important eternal truths like: we are children of God, we are here in our lives on purpose, and we have a destination - returning Home to live with God again.
We are children of God and He loves us. Each Youth theme echoes this important truth. The young women begin by saying, “I am a beloved daughter of heavenly parents, with a divine nature and eternal destiny.” The members of the Aaronic Priesthood begin by saying, “I am a beloved son of God, and He has a work for me to do.” Each theme begins by stating we are loved by God, our Father.
Mormon interrupts his narrative in 3rd Nephi Chapter 5 to say, “Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.”
We can each choose to be disciples of Jesus Christ. We can learn of Him and follow his ways. Our weekly family study reminds of this truth: as we study, we answer his invitation to Come, Follow Me.
Why are we here?
The young men themes, as I quoted earlier, states we have a work to do. What is our work?
We are to increase in Faith.
One of my favorite hymns is Master, the Tempest is Raging. This was one of my Dad’s favorite hymns. It references Mark 4:36-41. A good portion of the apostles were fishermen. They grew up on the Sea of Galilee. They knew all about boats. One night, in the middle of a storm, they were afraid their boat would sink. They woke the Master and He calmed the storm.
39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, aPeace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great bcalm.
40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so afearful? how is it that ye have no bfaith?
We each have storms in the normal course of our lives. We can call the Master and He will help us find the calm. This can only be done through Faith. I love the build in the chorus. The steady march and tension of the list of troubles and the declaration that Jesus is the Master. And the sweet, descending resolution that speaks of faith and strength.
We are to enlist in the Lord’s work.
Another song that my Dad and I love is Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd. Sheep can wander alone or in groups, but I like to think of this song as searching out the lost one. We can help those we love and those around us as we minister to the one.
Another favorite scripture is Jeremiah 16:16.
16 ¶ Behold, I will send for many afishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and
after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
Hunters seek out one at a time. Fishers seek out schools. At least the fishers of the Bible. They fished with nets that gathered in multitudes.
A favorite song that I discovered from Josh. He chose to learn a song to play as he took piano lessons. He found it because his dad sang it with some friends. I guess I paid more attention to my small kids than I did my husband. As I have grown to love this song, I am also reminded of President Packer and a talk he gave in October General Conference 2012. He entitled his talk, Atonement. He told of when he was assigned to visit Samoa. Going from one island to another they headed into a fierce storm.
He said, “We arrived in the harbor at Mulifanua. There was one narrow passage we were to go through along the reef. A light on the hill above the beach and a second lower light marked the narrow passage. When a boat was maneuvered so that the two lights were one above the other, the boat would be lined up properly to pass through the dangerous rocks that lined the passage.”
The lower lights had not been lit. They labored all night, first trying to make the safe harbor in front of them and then giving up and heading to a different, easier location.
For those of you who don’t know the song being referenced, it’s Brightly Beams our Father’s Mercy. I love this song. The light of the Master is constant, but sometimes our little lower light is so helpful for safe passage through mortality. We may never know the multitudes that see our light as we align ourselves with Christ.
All three of these songs are “seldom-sung”, but each holds a place in my heart. I am grateful for music that carries truth straight to my heart.
In this theme, is another favorite scripture: Jacob 5:61 “61 Wherefore, go to, and call aservants, that we may blabor diligently with our might in the vineyard, that we may cprepare the way, that I may bring forth again the natural fruit, which natural fruit is good and the most precious above all other fruit.”
I know this part of my talk is heavy on the missionary theme. I am very grateful to be able to focus on this again in my life.
Where are we going?
We opened with a Primary Song. I think it is fitting to close with one as well. My siblings and cousins sang Families Can Be Together Forever at my Grandfather’s funeral. Little Grandpa had been a constant in my young life. We lived next to him and Little Grandma. He had a large, lovely garden that we worked in and ate out of. This song was new to me. I was already in high school when it was written. Where else but children’s primary songs can we learn such profound truths spoken so simply.
We can go home to the Father that created us and be part of His family again. We can choose each day to practice for this destination. Each choice we make takes us closer or further away.
In the Doctrine and Covenants, section 14:7 we read, “7 And, if you akeep my commandments and bendure to the end you shall have ceternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God.”
Today I have shared scriptures, songs, personal experiences, and expressed gratitude. Each of these invites the Holy Ghost. Frequently I struggle to speak and tears come when I feel the Holy Ghost. At times I have grown frustrated that it is so hard for me to speak when I feel him close. But I have come to understand that holy things are not easily spoken of.
We say that we love Heavenly Father, and we should. He is our Father and this is his Plan. We say that we love Jesus Christ, and we should. “ . . . [He is] the Truth, the Way and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by [him].” (John 14:6) Today I want to say that I love the Holy Ghost. He teaches me truth, he reminds me what I know, and he whispers the love of God to my heart.
I know this is an end thing. But today, at the beginning, I want to bear my testimony in Spanish.
Brad and Kris have an Air B&B rental. They invited all the siblings and spouses to come for a weekend get away before Craig and I left. We took a lot of pictures. So here is the story of our weekend in pictures.
Sandy buried the snowmobile in a tree. (Of course I didn't even want to drive the snow machine, because I am so not talented that way. But I am more than happy to laugh with Sandy as we remember this part of the weekend.) We played a game that Kris brought. We each had to write down a person, a place and a thing. We folded our scraps of paper and then drew them out of a bowl. The first round we had to describe our clue, a bit like password, the second round we had to use one word, the third round we acted the word out, the fourth and final round we struck a pose. Same words, so we knew what we were dealing with. One of the words was snowmobile. My one word clue for that word was Sandy. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time as I did playing that game. Kris struck a pose for Christmas Tree and I laughed so hard I almost passed out. I couldn't catch a breath.
Craig started out the game cheating. He is a trash talker and sitting next to him it was impossible to even pay attention. I had to get up and sit across the room. We were playing girls against the guys.
There were ten of us, twelve times three is 30 words. Augusta, Tiger Woods, golf cart (Craig), Great Barrier Reed, John F Kennedy, and I can't remember my thing. Other people were Tom Hanks, President Nelson, Russell M Nelson,, Gordon B Hinckley (had to be exact), Paris, pyramid, Christmas Tree, golf, Yellow Stone, Island Park, and I can't remember the others. By the end of the game, Sandy didn't want to be the snowmobile anymore.
It can't be an Oswald party without food. We had prime rib, pulled pork sandwiches, breakfast casserole, pineapple X3, strawberries, blueberries, muffins, brownies, etc.
We were amazed by the snow slipping off the roof. So much snow.
Random table shot.
Alan, Sandy and LuRose playing in the snow.
Sledding down the hill and then riding the snowmobile back up to go again. Kris, Ronda, Me and Craig.
Cyri rode the four wheeler and gave Ronda and Kris a ride. Sandy took the picture.
The siblings. Ronda, Mark, Craig, LuRose, Brad, and Ronda.
The girls. They are so nice and well behaved.
The boys, notice Mark has snow in his hand.
Snow is falling all around, on the shoulders, in the ears.
Male affection is weird.
The group.
Brad is the king of selfies.
An excited sage grouse.
He was puffed up for the ladies. He was showing off for three unimpressed ladies. Poor guy. Good show though.
We celebrated Mark's birthday. He was a good sport and wore the star.
We pulled out a puzzle, 1000 pieces.
We got it done in one day. Amazing.
Birthday cheesecake.
I have enjoyed working at the Salmon River Vision Clinic. I have met some of my favorite people there. I am sure that I moved to Salmon to meet Terry Weeks. We have giggled everyday that she worked for over a year now. I also met Wendy Howell. She has been such a good mentor for me and taught me the ins and outs of tech-ing (prescreening the patients) and being an optician. I also met Bren Ward. She has been a cheerleader as I vacillated between faith and fear in serving this mission. She is remarkable and I have loved getting to know her as well.
I love the others as well, but those three ladies are my people.
I love the doctor and his wife. They took a chance on me. I told them when I was interviewing that we wanted to serve a mission when Boaz left on his mission. And they still hired me. This job has been a blessing to me, and I am grateful.
Two weeks ago, Craig called me at work. He was noticeably upset and told me I had to come home. He needed me. He didn't tell me why.
I ran around the office closing out what I was doing and hurried home. The whole time I'm wondering if something happened to Josh, or Boaz, or Thea.
He had gotten a phone call from the Missionary Department. We had mailed our FBI report and the Post Office said they had delivered it October 28, at 5:08 pm. But the Missionary Department hadn't received it. They were waiting for those documents for over two months. Meanwhile, they had our passports and VISA application sitting there.
The FBI report is only valid for one month, so even if they found it, it would have been expired. There was nothing to do, but restart the process. We went to the Sherriff's Office (DMV) and redid two sets of fingerprints each. The internet was down on our block, so we went to Craig's work and printed out the form we needed. We took it to the Post Office and sent it out as fast as it would go.
We knew the Missionary Department wouldn't receive it until Monday. One of the quirks about living in a small town in the middle of nowhere. And then we nervously puttered.
Our options were to restart our VISA and then wait in SLC Mission Home Mission. That would increase the cost of our mission, the housing would be about $900.00 more than we had budgeted for. The other option was to restart the whole process, which would delay us about six months. We can't do that because we have to be home for Boaz when he gets home from his mission. Our timeline as it is now is we will only be home for one month before Boaz gets home.
Craig was talking to SLC, our sweet Stake President, and then our lovely Bishop. Before we even were aware we had a problem, he had decided to deposit the excess missionary donations in our ward into our mission account. We have at least twelve other missionaries from our ward, and he decided to put it in our account. The extra will help us afford the extra time in Salt Lake City.
I am now rather looking forward to seeing what will happen while we are SLC. I think something significant will happen while we serve there.
We are still hoping to be able to go to Iquitos. The day after everything was resolved we got an email from our mission president in Iquitos. He was hopeful that our VISA process was going well and we would soon be on our way. There are three stakes in Iquitos and if they can get a fourth stake, they can qualify to apply for a temple. He wants us to work with the third stake, because their numbers are sliding and they won't divide until that stake begins to grow again.
We are super excited to be able to help work toward a temple.
Also, I have been saying that we will spend our 25th wedding anniversary on the Amazon. I still really want to do that. And I really want to go to Peru and fall in love with the people there.
We have faith that we will love both areas that we serve in, and the second area will still be Iquitos.
