I Wish They Were My Brothers

We always have two missionaries that serve in our 'ward' (congregation) at church.    They are often from overseas (usually the USA) but there are also a lot from the mainland who spend two years serving their mission as a volunteer.   We knew the missionaries quite well just before Aaron passed away, as they used to visit us often and spend time with our family. They came to Aaron's funeral and it's nice to be in contact with one of the missionaries on Facebook who is from Canada, as he is now home. 

Since Aaron passed away we haven't spent much time with the missionaries but over the past few months we have gotten to know the two missionaries in our ward really well.  Elder Hosman is from Arkansas and Elder Sargeant is from New Hampshire.   I'm not sure why Elder Hosman has a huge Toblerone :)

 Elder Hosman makes me laugh as he says 'yes Ma'am' when you ask him a question.  It's obviously a southern thing, but makes me feel really old :)
The boys love it when they visit and have been teaching them all about AFL football and cricket.  We think we have convinced them to barrack for Hawthorn, even though they've never seen a game or really know what we are talking about :)  The boys have loved playing sport with them a couple of times.  They split into two teams and play footy - usually one team is 'the Hawks' and the other is 'the Cats'.  

The missionaries have strict rules so whenever we spend time with the missionaries we have someone else join us.  Harri always asks why someone else has to be there and I tell him because they might think I'm hot and want to kiss me. He thinks that's a great joke! So do I actually, but I guess they have rules for a reason  - even if I'm sure they would have no interest at all in an almost 40 year old widow :)

The boys beg them to come and visit every week and cry if they aren't able to.  They always come and do something fun with the boys, and then give us a spiritual message. The boys love it as there is often a game of some sort involved.  It's so nice for the boys to have some males around and I can see how much they've missed it.  The missionaries spoil them so much and often bring them lollies when they visit.

They usually only get to stay in the same area for 3-6 months before being transferred to another area in the same mission.   We know that both of them will probably have to leave very soon and we will miss them a lot. Harri is especially sad that they will have to go.  He keeps saying that he wishes that they were his brothers and that they could live here forever.

Tonight he cracked me up as he said 'Mum can you marry one of the missionaries!?'.  I couldn't stop laughing and reminded him that they were young enough to be my sons.  He then looked at me and said 'okay, just marry Hodgey then!' :)

He then said he just wished they could stay and live with us.  I told him that they would miss their families too much, and he said 'no they told me they want to live here!'.    The other night when they were visiting Harri told them once again, that he didn't want them to leave and wishes that they were his brothers.   They both told him that they hope they could come back after their mission to visit again, and Harri said 'why would you want to come to Tasmania!? We have nothing!  You have the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty!'. He made us all laugh.  I joked about all the great things Launceston has like the Gorge, Aurora Stadium and Shiploads. He wasn't amused.

Tonight Harri told me that he loves the missionaries that we have right now 'more than Milly, our house, my bedroom and school'.  It's going to be a very sad day especially for Harri when they are transferred.