Preparing for the call

Bonnie and I have always had the goal of retiring early in order to be able to serve multiple missions together. We knew that life is so uncertain; in spite of best intentions, many couples approach retirement age but are suddenly faced with illness or accident that precludes realization of the dream. We figured that the earlier we got started, the better our chances of being healthy and ready! And also better chances of being able to serve multiple missions.

We also feel we are the beneficiaries of "compensatory blessings." We were not privileged to have a large family, so our two children (whom we love dearly and consider our greatest joy and blessing) left the home pretty quickly. And good employment opportunities through the years both helped to facilitate our goal financially. So I was able to retire at age 59, three years ago; Bonnie retired earlier this year. I am now 62 and she is 57. We feel very blessed to be in this position in our lives.

It was fascinating to go through the missionary application process. As senior missionaries, we have the option of providing input to the kind of mission assignment we would like to have. In the section that asked for the specific types of assignment that interested us, we put:

Worldwide Humanitarian, Public Affairs, Self-Reliance

Those areas were chosen largely based on current options available for Portuguese-speaking assignments, along with the interest for how we feel we'd like to spend our first mission. Then under the comments, we specified:

We have a specific interest in humanitarian service, having been involved in non-profit organizations and relief efforts for many years. We would love to serve a Portuguese-speaking assignment since David is fluent and Bonnie has studied quite a bit. We have some proficiency in Spanish and at some point would like to develop those skills further. We have minor medical issues that require occasional monitoring; if needed, we would travel to larger cities periodically for checks at our own expense.

At one point, we had been quite excited about an opening listed for humanitarian service missionaries in Cape Verde; the setting and the assignment sounded fascinating. But we learned that because of the primitive medical facilities available in that area, we very likely would not be assigned to work there due to my glaucoma and Bonnie's ITP (low blood platelets). That was disappointing, but nice to know the realities of our capabilities.

The next option we had as part of the application was to specify up to six assignments from the current list of openings that interested us, in priority order. This would provide some input to the brethren as they sought inspiration to make the specific assignment for our service. In choosing this list, we balanced our interest in speaking Portuguese against our desire to serve in the Welfare/Humanitarian Services area. These were the missions we specified:

1. Brazil Area Welfare Office, Brazil São Paulo West Mission — Welfare Services Missionary
2. Cook Islands Welfare Country Office, New Zealand Auckland Mission — Welfare Services Missionary
3. Portugal Lisbon Mission — Self-Reliance Services Missionary
4. Timor-Leste Mission Region, Indonesia Jakarta Mission — Humanitarian Services Specialist
5. Africa Southeast Area, South Africa Johannesburg Mission — Area Public Affairs Specialist
6. Argentina Country Welfare Office, Argentina Buenos Aires North Mission — Welfare Services Missionary

Click to enlarge

It's interesting that 5 of our 6 choices are in the southern hemisphere; only Lisbon is in the north.

The timing of our application is worth a comment. As we began this process and started to consider options, we had occasion to communicate with the missionary department about some of the positions that were listed. We saw potential assignments on the list that interested us, but worried they might not still be unfilled as our availability approached. We were encouraged to apply as soon as possible, up to six months in advance. We were already committed to a variety of summer events, so we set our availability for September 1, and then began pulling everything together.

We made our way through the application process, completing all the medical exams, reviewing our finances, taking photos, and having interviews with our bishop. Our final interview with the stake president was on Sunday March 17. So then the period of eager anticipation began!