President Hutchings' Homecoming

Today was one of the greatest days of my life since my mission. It was my mission president's homecoming.

It was in Lehi, and even my parents came, which meant a lot to me, and I loved. I texted my mom and dad tonight to thank them for coming and tell them that it really meant a lot to me that they wanted to be there and that they got to see a glimpse of why my mission meant the world to me. And mom responded with this text, I always want to remember it.

"Thanks! We are really glad we came, too. It was a very special experience for us. We can see why you loved your MP and wife so much. What great people! And the spirit of your mission was definitely there. Yes, we can see why you loved it so much, and why you had such a hard time leaving it-they did too. Thanks for letting us be there! Love, Mom and Dad. PS-Did you have fun afterward?"

That text meant a lot to me, that she can hopefully understand better now why it was so hard for me to come home. I had a really hard time coming home from my mission, harder than a lot of people. And I wasn't myself for a while after, especially at home with my parents. I know they were worried about me and didn't know what to do with me. And at the time I just missed my mission so much and wanted them to understand why, but they never really asked, or even asked about my mission much, which hurt. I don't think they meant it that way, but I felt like they didn't (or Mom, specifically) want to hear about the most incredible experience I had just had, which meant the world to me, and was all I knew then.

I've since been able to try to understand the situation from their side better, plus being home for so long, I've definitely adjusted by now, but it's still not a pleasant memory. So that's partly why it meant to much for mom and dad to be there, to see that they wanted to experience more of my mission and meet the man that means the world to me, my mission president.

The meeting was so neat. Andrew Jackson drove up there with me, and we got there early for the choir rehearsal. Any who wanted to sang in the missionary choir a rendition of "Ye Elders of Israel" that Sister Heidenrich (?) arranged. So we arrived and I headed up to the front, and Pres. Hutchings was in the aisle, so I got to see and hug him again, which I loved.

Oh--so last night Emily had arranged a fun sisters social event with Pres. and Sister Hutchings, where any sisters nearby, or who wanted to come, met them at Farr's ice cream place, by the mall, and we got to see them for the first time since they got home. It was soooo so great to see them. When I walked in that door, I saw Sister Hutchings first, talking to Kayla Bueler (Rothlisberger now) and hugged them, and she pointed to where the rest were, at the back, and I looked back there, and saw Pres., who was looking at me, and we made eye contact, and I got so excited and started kind of running back to him, and he stood up and put his ice cream down and came around the trash and we hugged, and it was so exciting.

I ended up sitting down, and then he specifically came over and was like, "I need to sit by Sister Gurr," or "I need to talk to Sister Gurr" or something like that, and came over and sat kiddie corner to me, and asked me about the PA situation (he was going to write one of my letters of rec.), and I told him the whole situation of now trying to decide between nursing and PA and liking different things about both. He's a great listener, he sits there and will listen to you 100% and he makes you feel like you are worth a million bucks and like he has all the time in the world for you. I love him.

Unfortunately he didn't solve my problem, but I'm glad I was able to talk to him about it. He told me some great things about PAs and about one of his sons in law or bros in law or someone who is a PA and loves it. ...(sigh)..I don't know what to be...

So then we kind of all just chatted, and it was so fun! I talked a lot with Kayla (Sister Buhler), which was really great to, and Sister Lutz even was there! And it was just like old times, it was so so fun to have her there!

So anyway, back to today. So Pres. Hutchings hugged me again when he saw me as I walked up the aisle to the front of the chapel to practice, and I just love hugging him. I love him so much and I know he loves me, and it is so priceless to me, his hugs now, cuz I couldn't hug him for so long (except the one hug at the airport from him that I will never forget, where we were both just crying).

We practiced, and then the meeting started, and I sat by Sister Lutz (now Evans) and her husband, Kyle, which was so neat to sit with her again. Cassie (Sister Thacker) sat by me til we sang.

The first thing in the program was our song, which mom and dad said sounded really great. I couldn't get through the last verse without crying, which probably started it all..

Then Sister Hutchings spoke, and started out by speaking about how amazing the missionaries are and stuff like that, which really got me crying. She is an amazing speaker, I love listening to her. She never stutters or says um or pauses, she just speaks slow and steady and with such confidence and testimony. She is so sweet, I love her too, of course.

Then it was the "original six" that sang, from the original traveling group of "Songs of the Savior" and they sang "I Know He Lives," and it was beautiful. Maybe even more beautiful than on the mission. :) But wow, such a beautiful song and spirit, and voices.

Then it was President and he technically had five minutes left, and I was hoping he would talk longer, because I love listening to him, he is such a spiritually powerful man. We were blessed to listen to him for about twenty minutes, and I cried through much of his talk. He started out by not even being able to speak, he was so emotional and choked up, which made me cry a ton. The meeting, and especially him speaking and the sadness they had in being home from their mission completely brought back the emotions of sadness from when I came home, and I just feel for them. But I was sure a water works.

He ended up telling just a few specific stories of missionaries and one of them was of my sweet Sister Rigley, and how she changed and how her testimony basically grew from the ground up over her mission. That was neat to hear about again, I'm so proud of her. And he also told about when we filled the font, just because I felt prompted to, and then found no one to baptize, and then found and baptized the Ward family before I went home. I love him so much for how he got me through that hard time of not finding anyone to baptize, and the care he had for me/us, so much that he prayed that night about our situation and why it happened that way, and for what he taught me. As he told it today, the Lord told him (and he told me) the "My ways are not your ways," and that it wasn't that someone was supposed to be baptized that night, but that the Lord wanted to see if I would do it, fill the font. And then because of that act of faith, I was blessed with being able to baptize a family before I went home (which, as Pres. tells it, was one of my greatest desires on the mission.). That was such an incredible, sacred, special experience, because of the emotions of it, being so crushed and confused as to why I was so prompted to fill the font, and the Conleys came and everything, and we invited everyone we could think of that could qualify, to be baptized that night, and then no one was. To the incredible blessings we saw in the next couple weeks with teaching and baptizing the Wards, and having Pres. there all along the way and care so much about me/us and recognize and point out that connection and direct blessing of my act of faith. He said that after the font-filling experience, that Bishop Day called him and told him he had never seen a greater act of faith in any missionary (something to that effect). That meant a lot to hear too, Bishop Day was so special to me too, I loved him. But Pres. has never forgot that whole experience (he has referred to it multiple times in conversation with me since, and apparently would tell it periodically to missionaries) and it meant more to me than I can say that that was one of the few stories he chose to share today.

I of course was an emotional wreck by the end of his talk, and kept crying even through the song and prayer. I eventually got myself under control, and I walked up with my parents so they could meet President Hutchings. That was a neat experience in itself, he bent down and side-hugged me (he was still on the stand, we were on the ground) when we all started talking. He said many really nice things about me, called me a "pistol." :)

Afterward there was a social thing, with food at like a reception place down the street, where we had lunch and got to socialize and Andrew showed the slideshow he made for them. It was really fun to catch up with missionaries, and so great to spend more time with President.

We were there basically until everyone else left, minus the senior missionaries helping with the food and cleaning up, and when I finally got to talk to Pres. he hugged me again and said "thank you for waiting around," and sorry that I haven't been able to talk to you, or something to that effect. That meant a lot to me, I felt like he really wanted more time to talk with me, specifically. Elder Santos' wife, Ashley, was there with me, waiting to ride home with us, which might have been why Pres. and I didn't really talk much more, she talked with him some, and mostly I just listened in, but that was enough for me. I just love being with him. I've missed him so much. I told him I was so glad that they were back, that I'd been waiting like a year and a half for them to come home.:) And that I was sad for them, but glad. As we stood there we would say a few things, and at one point he just gave me a side hug as we were standing there, just like we were old buddies. I love him so much, there are not words to describe. I would tell him anything, talk to him about anything. I miss being around him and talking to him regularly as a missionary. But it was so so good to see and be with them, so good.

I got his and Sister Hutchings new numbers from him, and he said, "Call anytime, day or night, you know that." And I do, I know he really would welcome any call from me, from anyone really, at anytime and for any reason. And he would completely give me his whole attention and care about everything I said. He is amazing. I love him so much.

Today was amazing. It was like being in this happy place away from the cares and worries of my life or the world. And when I got back to Provo, it felt funny, kind of like a let down. And I thought to myself, "back to reality."