We held our annual AAA conference on December 6-7. December 7 was the last day of our mission. It was a PERFECT day in every way. We were with the people we had personally visited and connected with and the people who truly made our mission the meaningful experience it was. We found the assistant auditors to be the most dedicated, kind and compassionate people we had ever met. There are 27 assistant auditors and over the period of our mission, we visited all but one of them. We shared meals with them and attended meetings…. we were in many of their homes and we met their wonderful families, and shared spiritual moments as well as many humorous moments. A few of them we traveled with …. some for three days. One of those trips was our great road trip with Hermano Tossen through southern Patagonia, through Chile and into Ushuaia, "fin del mundo". Another three day trip was with Hermano Sosa along the Patagonian Coast to meet with small districts. For us to be able to visit and give an abrazo to each person before we left our mission was a great gift… and the conference proved to be a perfect venu for this occasion.
Our mission was a grand experience! It was challenging, fulfilling, deeply spiritual, actively engaging, exciting, adventurous, and a moment never to be forgotten. We are grateful for all of our family who supported us and encouraged us and rejoiced with us……. Our mission was truly a family effort. We looked forward to this mission for 42 years as it was the first goal we set as a newly married couple. Now it is complete……our vision fulfilled …… we are different people now than we were when we left. We now move forward with new perspective, new hope and probably new challenges, holding the memory of our mission close to our hearts and letting that experience continue to move us forward in our lives.
Here are some great photos of our last day…..a day filled with joy, lots of work, and love with our dear friends.