Our Missionary Farewell

     We were set apart as full-time missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on July 16th, 2023 by President Thomsen of the Lakeland Florida Stake. In our blessings, we were both counseled to learn more about the Hawaiian people's heritage and culture. Cathy was encouraged to devote herself to learning more about the doctrine and teachings of Christ and his church, and was promised that her love for her husband would increase because of serving this mission together. Dan was blessed to have courage to do the will of God at all times. 

    We gave our missionary farewell talks in sacrament meeting one week later. Cathy spoke about how as a student at BYU she wanted to go on a mission, and took a year off from school to work three jobs in order to save up enough money to go, but her mother, whom she trusted and obeyed, told her not to serve a mission, but to get married instead. She has always had the desire to be a full-time missionary, and when President Russell M. Nelson said in the April 2022 general conference that missionaries, including senior couples were needed, and would be blessed for their service, she felt a strong spiritual witness that she needed to go, and felt like the prophet was speaking directly to her. 

    Dan spoke about how this was the second time he was Elder Mundell, and how he felt like his first missionary experience prepared him to serve as a senior couple. He has a gift for memorization, and was able to learn the missionary discussions very quickly, but this alone did not make him a good missionary. This time he wants to do better by listening to the spirit, learning about people and how to serve them as the Savior would, and focusing on their needs. He stressed that Cathy will be a great missionary because she is very kind, thoughtful and compassionate towards others, and all he needed to do is to follow her lead to be a successful missionary. 

    It is a great thing to be serving together as missionary companions, and that will make our combined efforts more effective in reaching and teaching people how to be more like Jesus, pattern our lives after him, and become true disciples of Christ. 

    After sacrament meeting, we were treated to a luau themed "linger longer" where the ward members had a chance to socialize and say their farewells and best wishes to us. We will miss our ward family, but we are eager to get to our new assignment, roll up our sleeves and get to work. Later that afternoon, we drove off with Everley to start our long journey to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah.