THE Phone call!!

For years I have heard about THE phone call. I have enjoyed talking to nephews occasionally on Christmas day when I happened to be at Grandma & Grandpa's house when they called. I even talked to Tim a couple of different times while he was on his mission. And Grandma & Grandpa while they were on their mission. But this time it was my son, and it felt like my call. After all it was Mother's Day.

I was disappointed earlier in the week when Elder Marsden told us the rules for his mission were to talk for 40 minutes. I felt a little ripped off, after all everyone else I knew got to talk a lot longer. But how could I argue with Sean's comment " I know that as we are obedient and talk for 40 minutes it will be more meaningful, more fun, more spiritual, and all around better then any hour long, or two hour long conversation we could ever have. I know this to be true because Heavenly Father has made it known to me by the power of the Holy Ghost. Great blessings are in store for us as we are obedient."

But still I must admit, I kept thinking, only 40 minutes!! Several missionary moms had told me that their sons were allowed an earlier call to set up the call on Mother's day. All week long I wasn't too far from the phone, and when I was away, I had my cell phone close by. But there was never a call. But after waiting all week long, at 2:53 p.m. on Mother's day the phone rang. Even though the caller I.D. said "unavailable"; I knew Elder Marsden was available. It was great to hear his voice, and it felt like I had talked to him earlier that day. He started by saying that several missionaries had told him that the first phone call home was hard. He asked if we could say a prayer together as a family. We were all on different phones including Melissa and Adam on a cell phone and Carly got to our house about five minutes into the call. After Elder Marsden said the prayer we asked questions and told stories and shared experiences with each other. Elder Marsden then testified and bore testimony to all of us. He then asked to talk to each of us individually for a minute. We all expressed our love and then closed with a family prayer together. As we were saying goodbye, Sean said, "I will talk to you on Thursday," at first a didn't know what he meant, but soon realized he would be e-mailing us on his P-day. I felt CONTENT and BLESSED. When we said goodbye, I wasn't left unsatisfied. I felt HAPPY and an overwhelming sense of JOY!! He was right. I did feel blessed!!