In 3 weeks and 1 day, I (Sister Catherine Cryer Peterson) will
be dragging my luggage and missionary companion, Tom, through the doors of the
MTC to embark on a journey and report as a humanitarian missionary to serve the
Lord in the Trinidad Port-of-Spain Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. I’ve waited a
lifetime to for this opportunity and I acknowledge the blessings of a gracious
Heavenly Father in bringing me to this point.
There are many pre-departure requirements that prospective missionaries
must meet and personal tasks that I wanted to get completed. Here’s a condensed list:
Ecclesiastical Approval
Medical Assessments
You
name it the body part, they check it.
Immunizations
For this Caribbean mission you get stuck for
hepatitis A&B, influenza, pneumonia,
typhoid, shingles, tetanus, yellow fever, diphtheria and pertussis.
Put Household in Order
For me, this has been a massive
effort in making a last stab at getting rid of my children’s leftovers – you
know, the remains of offspring that tend to think your basement is a storage
unit. Also, my contribution to the
ecosystem has been the donation of the contents of 10 year old bottles of
canned peaches, quince jam no one ever ate, stewed tomatoes with 2001 on the
lids, and frozen foods sparkling with permafrost and decorated with ribbons of leaky
strawberry freezer jam, as well as nearly unrecognizable plastic freezer bags
of leftover turkey stock, split pea soup, shriveled sweet corn and green peas
that look like green raisins. I never
have been good at rotating food, especially if it means chiseling it out of the
back of the freezer.
Another self-imposed
task has been to gather like items from the four corners of my world into
categorical storage. For example, taking
Jamie’s blue taffeta floral embossed high-school choir performance dress and
putting it in the costume bag along with the Indian tom-toms, leftover sequined
dance leotard, semi-smashed straw hat and black wig of unknown origin. And I now have that bag of stuff waiting by
my front door to be donated to innocent victims. There
have been similar gatherings of bedding, fans and heaters, newly emptied
canning jars, craft and sewing supplies, memorabilia, photos, outerwear, underwear,
tools, car stuff, garden stuff, etc. One
of my favorites has been sporting goods – deflated balls for every game
imaginable, random golf clubs, stashes of golf balls (some of which may be
remnants of those meant to be sold for 50 cents apiece having been salvaged
from the water hazard at the Hobble Creek golf course by my 6th and
7th grade sons years ago) in the sports department in the
garage.
All this
includes preparing the home for the house-sitters (Mary’s family of 4) who will
attempt to preserve and protect the family house while we’re gone.
Put Financial Affairs in Order
Planning to
pay for a mission has entailed a lot of patient work and information gathering
to plan, forecast and budget. This task
seemed unpleasant because in the process I have been reminded of my hopeful
eventual passing into the realms beyond and my status in the eternities which
might or might not include wearing some sort of burqa or broken wings or
leftover P.E. tee-shirts, depending on my worthiness. We put together our
family trust, bought our funeral plans and gravesites, started taking Social
Security, and I had a garage sale and used my gift certificates from Mothers’
Days, Christmases, and birthdays.
Packing
This job is
the least favorite of all I have been working on. After the forewarning of the immunizations
for tropical disease and the suggestion to bring long pants, insect repellent,
and Permethrin because of pathogenic mosquitos, cockroaches and no-see-ums, I
realized packing would be a fun reminder of what may come. Let’s see, are mosquitos attracted to yellow
or pink? Should I take flyswatters, a
year’s supply of dehydrated canned goods so I don’t get parasites or diarrhea? Should I take blouses to match my slacks and
skirts or match the pants with a top, and the skirts with a different top? Should I take my fraying towels, or buy new
ones? If my suitcase is overweight which
items will I put in the airport trashcan?
Will my cell phone work? The next
few days I will have to find answers to these burning questions and slip every
thoughtful item into the possibility pile, then select the absolute
necessaries.
Humans and Hugs
Not exactly
a “task,” my people have been generally extra sweet and affectionate. It is as though all of a sudden the
“Let’s-get-together-sometime-soons,” which most often go unfulfilled, have come
to pass during this time. It has been so
nice to get together with old friends, family and riff-raff from my past. If you read this, you riff-raff know exactly
who I’m talking about. The support and
love has been much appreciated, and has brought me to further realize the greatness
of God’s children, and my good fortune to know and love some of the greatest. My heart has swelled, my eyes teared up, my
joy jumped and love grown through considering all I have grown to love and all
I may meet in the future.
Lots of Other Stuff, Too
Not the end,
but the end of my day!
I was laughing out loud thinking of you packing :)
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