La Tierra Bendita

I've been home from my mission to Venezuela for almost 4 years. There's hardly a day that goes by that I'm not reminded of something special from my mission--a person or family that I worked with, walking down a street in one of my areas, bus rides, an especially hot day, etc.

Kraig has a new calling in our ward that actually takes us out of the ward. He was called to be a Ward Language Missionary, which we've come to understand means that we attend the Spanish Branch here in Heber. Since I speak Spanish too (and since I don't want to go to our ward by myself while he goes to the Branch, nor do I want to make Andy sit through 6 hours of church...) we've decided to go as a family to the Branch.

So since we've had this new calling the reminders of my mission have been flooding my mind. Today was no exception. One of the sweet hermanas in the ward, who is actually from Venezuela--La Tierra Bendita--invited us to 'cenar' with she and her husband after church. She prepared a traditional Venezuelan dish, pabellon, and in true Venezuelan hospitality spoiled us as her guests. I had not even entered her house when the wonderful familiar smells of the country that I love and miss daily welcomed me 'home'. As she and her husband welcomed us into their very humble home and so generously shared their meal with us, it brought tears to my eyes to remember so vividly what life was like there.

I hope that I never take for granted my time in Venezuela. I hope that I teach my boys (and girls too, if they come) the sacredness of this special land and the way that my life was changed by being there, doing what I was doing. I hope that they each learn and have the great desire to go far away and learn to love another's land and make it his own.