elder thorkelson

I am officially the sister of a missionary!

I It has been a day shy of a week since I gave that brother my last hug for two years. We had been waiting for that to come for a long time, but that didn't make it any easier. I am filled with so much joy, thinking of him out there serving. I am also filled with a little sadness when I come home and he isn't snuggling baby Roo or laughing at silly videos. Initially, I felt a little fear too as having a sibling on a mission isn't something I have experienced before. I am not really afraid for him, I know he will be amazing. I was more worried for me - not having him home. It was selfish. 6 days later, I can say that home isn't the same without him, but we are making it.

Six days down. Seven hundred, twenty something left.

I couldn't be more proud of my baby brother. He has over come so much in the last three years. He has grown and helped those around him grow too!

I have watched him speak in both stake conference and in our ward in the last month and have been blown away at how suddenly grown up he seems. In both of those talks, he mentioned his fight with cancer. Porter doesn't talk much about the experiences he had while he was going through chemo and I loved hearing how close he came to our Heavenly Father and Savior through that battle.

I just keep thinking that so many LDS families have done this before. I keep reminding myself of the blessings of having a missionary. I tell myself over and over again that it is going to be ok and that I can email/write him whenever I want! But it doesn't make my heart miss him any less. I just want to hug him.

Today, I got my first email from him. I have never reacted to opening my email the way I did today. Seeing that email instantly brought tears to my eyes. He didn't write much, but he wrote! Getting emails from him has already become an addiction and I cannot wait for next Tuesday.

In short:

I am the sister of a missionary. I love him. I love this gospel.