Mission Reunion

It's probably no secret to most of you that I didn't particularly care for my mission.  I guess I'm glad I served, but it's not something I'd be likely to repeat.  I maintained contact with a few people afterward at college, but lost contact with everyone by the time I moved to Salt Lake.  And really, I wasn't interested anyway. 

Well - a few weeks ago I saw a posting in the Deseret News for a mission reunion with my second mission president, President Anderson.  To my knowledge, it's the first one they've held in years, if ever.  Normally, I would let it go by, but for some reason, this time I couldn't.

Now, it seems there's a tradition in the church about mission reunions.  Most of them are posted in the Deseret News.  Usually they are held conference weekend, and somewhere in Salt Lake or Provo.  And most of the time they're on a Friday evening.  So this was a bit of a surprise because it was to be held two weeks after conference, in Hurricane, Utah, of all places, and would be from 11:00AM-2:00PM.

Well, I let it go until this week, when I finally decided I would like to go.  I contacted the sister who was in charge of it, and found out the Anderson's would be there, and she mentioned a few former missionaries that I didn't know.  Being a bit of a chicken about the whole thing, I tried several friends to see if they wouldn't mind accompanying me for the drive, but no luck.  And by Wednesday night I had decided not to go.  But it must have been more important to me than I thought, and by early Friday morning I had changed my mind and decided I would go after all.

So yesterday morning, I got up early, gathered my courage and hit the road.  Despite stopping several times (no surprise to those who've traveled with me before), I made it there by around noon.  There were just a few of us, and everyone had brought their families.  I remembered a few of the sisters, but didn't know most of them well.  But I think we all had a pleasant time visiting.  Turns out the Anderson's, who were from San Diego, moved to St. George a few years ago.  That and the fact that several of the missionaries live near that area I guess made it a logical location.

President Anderson and I were never close.  But for a returned missionary, there are few men who have had more of an influence on you, and that tends to follow you as you go through life.  We really didn't visit much yesterday, so I don't anticipate that this will change anything as far as that goes.  But he and Sister Anderson are probably in their late 70's now, and who knows what may happen the next few years.  In that respect, I'm glad I went.  Word is they may have another one in a couple of years.  If that happens, I might even attend.