January 9, 2015
Dear Riley,
Congratulations! You
are a missionary in Thailand!
I’ve been contemplating today on my impressions as I arrived
in India back in 2008. All my senses
alerted me to change. My skin noted the
sticky hot cling of my undergarments within seconds of exiting the plane. There were mosquitoes meandering around the
bag claim area, as at home inside the airport as they would be on a campout. My nose tried to decode a unique aroma which I
still can’t break into specific elements.
Certainly there was the smell of construction as they were remodeling
the bag claim area, sawdust and diesel, but there was also an essence of life
carried on in the air. I saw all kinds of shades of dark skin and almost no
light skin. And there were these
strange, undecipherable strings of sounds and mutters which I could not today
distinguish any better than that day.
Plus the traffic horns.
Briefly I sensed a vulnerability that’s difficult to
justify. But it was there. Here we were halfway across the world in a
truly foreign place. I didn’t know how
to contact M if he didn’t claim us; we were strangers at this point. All my treasures, aside from Dad, were a
world away where I could not observe and protect them.
I imagine your experience will be some of the same, and many
quite different. You have been prepared
for longer than we know for this very moment and the many which will follow in
this new land that you will love and come to see as home.
You’re off to great places, you’re off and away!
I pray blessings upon you, upon your mission president and
his family, upon your companions, and upon the many Thai people who will be
merciful, kind, and generous to you.
Especially I pray blessings upon those who will love you and call you blessed
because you brought the gospel to them.
We love you so much!
Love,
Mom
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