She's finally in Australia!

What a roller coaster ride our life has been since October 2013.  I don't think I realized I was able to feel all the emotions I have felt since Lexie decided to serve a mission after Pres. Monson's announcement.  Having never had a missionary before, I wasn't sure what to expect, and honestly I feel I have been blessed with peace that I didn't know was even possible.  That being said though it is not easy!  When she didn't get her visa and stayed in the MTC for two extra weeks, and then being reassigned to another mission for 4 weeks while she was waiting was a very interesting experience. Of course what I wanted was that she would get her visa and be able to go, but evidently Heavenly Father had different things in mind, lessons that needed to be learned by her, and also by her parents.  Life is all about accepting Heavenly Father's will AND His timetable.  Putting our trust in an omniscient and  omnipotent being who will give us precisely the experiences we need to become all that He needs us to become.  Lexie definitely had some challenging experiences while serving in the South, but if she chooses, those experiences  will refine her and make her and even better missionary now that she is in Australia. 

YES!  She is in Australia. She arrived there Tuesday afternoon (Wednesday morning Australian time).  We got our mother's day call last night since there is a 16 hour time difference.  (So weird that we will get her Monday email today, that is going to take some getting used to.)  It was so fun to talk to her and laugh with her and hear the sparkle in her voice.  She is serving in a town called Grafton that hasn't had missionaries for a year I think she said.  They had just attended church when she called and there were 18 people there at the branch yesterday.  Sounds like she has some work to do!  She will be driving, and has already taken her test since her companion from Tahiti doesn't drive.  She said driving on the wrong side of the rode isn't too bad, except for when she came out of a roundabout on the wrong side.  Luckily no other cars were coming so she didn't die or anything.
She is a ten hour train ride away from Sydney in the far north of her mission.  They told her that where they are serving now is the mission they will be in when the the mission splits in July.  So she will serve in the Sydney North mission.  She said her 'flat' is amazing, leather couches and the whole bit.  Her companion, who has been out for 7 months, said she has never had such a nice apartment.  Sounds like she better enjoy that while it lasts. :) 

I am certain there will be plenty more challenges that lie ahead for her in the next 16 months, but I have learned to pray for what Heavenly Father knows is best for her, and not for what I think is best.  And when I forget that sometimes, I am sure He will continue to remind me.  So grateful to be a mother, and today especially a missionary mom!