18 Fast Sundays

Thanks to Donny Osmond and his version of 'Seasons of Love', I know there are 525,600 minutes in a year.  Sister missionaries serve for a year and a half, which would make a grand total of 788,400 minutes.  It's a good thing I'm not counting minutes, because that's a lot of minutes! (Sorry moms of elders, your numbers just go up from here...1,051,200).  Nope, I'm not counting minutes, or even days...I can't do it.
First of all, I am severely count-down challenged. I can't even manage to get all 25 doors open on the advent calendar at Christmas time.  Every time we make a red and green paper chain I find myself cutting off several links at a time to make up for the days I've forgotten. Last year we still had four chain links hanging on the door on Christmas Eve.  Seriously, I'm just not good at it!  But more important than my little disorder is my lack of desire for self inflicted torture! 534 days of meticulously ticking off boxes would seem like an eternity to me...and though eternity is truly what I'm all about in many aspects of my life, I have no use for it when waiting for my missionary! (712 days for the boys, but who's counting?)

So am I just wandering around with my head in the clouds and no coping method for the passing of time? Um...no.  If you've read any of my other blog posts regarding my obsession desire to support my missionary, I'm sure you've figured that out.  When I am looking forward to something, I don't break it down into it's smallest divisor, I build it up into a number that doesn't seem so daunting.  I've always been that way.  I blame it on the ability to play mind games with myself...it comes in handy every now and then.  Ironically enough, it took a friend to point this out to me.

I'll admit I was a little freaked out before Missionary Girl left (okay, still am periodically).  I couldn't imagine not seeing her or talking to her for a year and a half.  A year.  And a half.  It was during one of those said freak outs that my friend Tammy wisely said, "just think of it as 18 fast Sundays."  That made perfect sense to my afore mentioned logic and I grabbed hold of that with both hands.  525,600 has eleven syllables in it, 534 has six...18 has two! Two! So much better...am I right?!

At first I just focused on the countdown aspect of this brilliant plan.  I mean, honestly, how many times have you thought, "oh, it's fast Sunday again?...it seems like we just had it!"  Maybe I'm alone in that, and if I am, you should know I've matured a lot since those days and I don't feel that way anymore.  True story.
Nonetheless, it comes around.

But here's the best part.  Here's where we go from simply marking time to making a difference.  We get 18 (or 24) opportunities to fast and pray for our missionaries. Our missionaries.  The ones we raised.  The ones we sent out.  The ones whose success, safety, and spiritual growth mean everything to us!  We get to set aside that time each month that is truly devoted to them and has nothing to do with emails, letters or care packages.  A sacred time to pray for them, their companions, their fellow missionaries and their investigators.  The Savior fasted and prayed for 40 days before he began  his earthly minestry.  We have been blessed to have these few precious times to follow His example and fast and pray for others as they too go about their Father's business.  What if we included the missionaries in our wards and stakes? What if we included ourselves in this great missionary effort?

I miss my girl, but I don't want her to come home.  When she walks off that plane in 18 months I will be the first face she sees (I can pretty much guarantee it), but I want it to be when she has finished the work she was sent to do.  I've waited for her before.  I worried, prayed, and daydreamed about seeing her every day for 9 months.  I can handle 18; especially when I know they'll be the best 18.

Advice:

• Don't count the days...there are just so many of them! :)
• Do something you look forward to once a month.  Massage? Pedicure?
• Find an outlet for your energy.  My friend Robin likes to exercise...a lot! :)
• Let your missionary know you miss them, but don't clobber them with it! We don't want them to count the days, but rather make the days count. (I did not make that up, but it's pretty good).
• Be positive.  They're doing a GREAT thing.

 *In case you don't know, Fast Sunday in generally the first Sunday of the month when members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints abstain from food and drink for 24 hours.  The money that would have been used to purchase food for those meals (and usually much more) is donated to our church specifically to help those in need.  It is a chance to humble ourselves and remember where our blessings truly come from.  During this time we also pray for ourselves or others who have special need of blessings.