There's no place like home!

One of my all-time favorite movies is The Wizard of Oz. In it, Dorothy finds herself uprooted from her home and family and now in a place that is so beautiful and so colorful, surrounded by people who immediately love her; a place that she decides must be somewhere over the rainbow.

Like Dorothy, Mike and I found ourselves uprooted from our home and family and living in a place that was beautiful, colorful and although they definitely weren't munchkins, we were surrounded by people who immediately loved us.  We weren't over the rainbow, we were in Samoa!

Throughout the movie, Dorothy makes some wonderful friends who journey with her to the land of Oz.  As she later describes this journey she says that some of it was not very nice, but that most of it was wonderful. 

During our mission to Samoa, we, too, could say that some of it was not very nice, but that most of it was wonderful!  And when the time came for us to return home, we, like Dorothy bid a tearful goodbye to our many new found friends.  But, as difficult as it was to say goodbye to Samoa, there was never any doubt that we were coming home!

Each one of us left our heavenly home and family to come and serve a lifetime mission on earth.  We are surrounded by beauty, color, and family and friends.  While it is true that some of this journey is not very nice, most of it is wonderful.

My goal is to return and live with  my Heavenly Father and Mother.  I know the path that leads back to them.  It requires faith, hope and charity, which is Christlike love.  I have made covenants that I must keep.  I must be willing to stand as a witness of God at all times and in all places and I must  be willing to do it for as long as my mortal life lasts. 

I testify that when the time comes to return to live with my Heavenly Father, I have no doubt that it will be worth every step I took to get there, because there truly is      no place like home!