We Arrive Home

Omar Khayyám penned the poem:

“The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,

Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,

Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.”

Arriving at Portland airport, greeted by McKay and Kayla

Our final arrival in Idaho, greeted by Kristi and Katie

Wonderful welcome home posters by the grandchildren!

Elder Coffey describes his feelings.  "Time has passed and I stand at the brink of change which I cannot change. No matter what I do both time and I must go on. Yet my heart has loved serving as a humanitarian missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

My heart and mind will miss all those I have associated with.  So many have shared their hearts and minds with me.  I will miss the sites and smells and humidity of Asia.  In my hope I will continue to watch for the growth of the people in Asia.I will miss everyone.  Often in the future I will hear a word, smell a smell, see a person or scene and a flash of remembrance will remind me of you - you who have touched my heart and made the last 23 months a dream of a lifetime.  May you all be blessed for making my life so much sweeter.  Thank 

you, sincerely.'

We flew into Portland for a layover and enjoyed a quick lunch with McKay and Kayla.  Then we flew into Idaho Falls where Katie and Kristi met us at the airport. What a joy to be with family again and to see the sweet faces of the grandchildren, hold them, hug them and love them.

Today, March 12th, we were officially released by our stake president, President Lewis, of the St. Louis North Stake, via Skype.  

Our path through our mission has led us to incredible heights and amazing       vistas.  It has been such a joy, such a revelation, such an incredible blessing to have served the Lord full time.  Our hearts and our lives will never be the same.  

Robert Frost so well penned, 

"I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference."

Video

The Roller Coaster of Goodbyes

It is extremely hard, if not impossible, to explain the range of emotions that are coming in swells, more and more frequently as the days speed by.  On the one hand, we are excited to go home and see our children and our grandchildren, four of whom we haven’t met in person yet.  As we Skype them and talk about seeing them soon, I can hardly wait to hold them in my arms! 

On the other hand, I break into tears as I talk to the sisters at the branch, or work one on one with a sister and her challenges, or offer support to another in her time of distress.  Or share with another on her hope and joy in the future. They are darling sisters whom I love dearly and may never see again in this life.

Again, the thought of not sitting in front of a computer all day at the office brings a feeling of relief and joyful anticipation.  On the other hand, by the same token, the thought of no longer being involved with the moving forward of the great humanitarian work throughout Asia, of seeing the breadth of humanity in various countries of the world - of just up and leaving it all behind - is nearly more than we can bear. 

One of our treasured memories - our visit to Nepal

The roller coaster is spinning faster.  It is extremely hard to say goodbye to all of this. Our treasured memories will stay with us forever. 

How can one adequately describe what a senior mission is like?  It is simply not possible.  As with younger proselytizing missionaries, the greatest experience has been the growth in ourselves. What we have learned, what we have grown to understand, what we have learned to love, has been far more than anything we could have ever dreamed of.  There is no way, sitting back in our living room in St. Charles, Missouri, that we could have even dreamed of the amazing experiences and opportunities that would have been ours in these short 23 months.

Our last day as serving in the Hong Kong Temple:

Our release papers from serving in the Hong Kong Temple

Our last weekly Area Welfare Coordinating Council Meeting:

Weekly Area Welfare Coordinating Council Meeting

I think the greatest part of this mission has been the blessing of working closely with members of the Area Presidency - Elder Gerrit W. Gong, Elder Randy D. Funk, Elder Sam C.H. Wong and Elder Siu Hong Pon - as well as our association with Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in Timor-Leste. We have been able to see how the Lord reveals His will to His servants, and how revelation guides and directs this Church. 

Tonight our replacements - Elder and Sister Nielson - arrived from the United States.  They served several years ago in Lao as the humanitarian couple, so they come already with experience.  They will do a wonderful job!  They'll take our apartment once we leave - we spruced it up nicely for them. 

Elder Coffey visits with Elder and Sister Nielson at the airport

This  mission has been one of the greatest experiences of our lives. Missions are tough and have challenges, to be sure, and you have to push through those challenges, just like anything else. But when you allow the Lord to be your partner, when you allow Him to guide your choices, when you stay focused on why you came on a mission - it is glorious beyond description.  

Lessons and Laughter in Lao

Elder Coffey and I visited the country of Lao to meet our humanitarian couple and inspect some of the humanitarian projects and processes there.

In Vientiane, the capital city, a happy chatter filled the room as students giggled through the opening exercise of vocabulary review. Deseret International Charities (DIC) English lessons were in full swing for government employees in Vientiane, Lao. Our senior humanitarian couple, Elder and Sister Bush, oversee the teaching of 500 students each week. Laughter erupted as the students followed Sister Bush in a round of Hokey Pokey, learning body parts while singing the fun American dance.

Elder Coffey joins in a round of Hokey Pokey

The six Elders who are serving in Lao are teaching at the Center for Medical Rehabilitation. These stalwart young men come from the United States, usually without knowing another language. They learn Thai in the Missionary Training Center and begin their service in Thailand.  They are later assigned to Lao, where they quickly pick up the new language.

But these Elders have gone even further.  They are teaching English to deaf students  - using Lao Sign Language, which they also learned on site. And the students love them!





American Thai-taught Lao-learned Lao-Sign-Language English teachers!  I'd say the gift of tongues is alive and well in this little corner of the Lord's vineyard!

At the Center for Medical Rehabilitation, we next observed disabled employees assembling wheelchairs which will later be used for some of our wheelchair projects.

This  man is trying out his new trike wheelchair.  A happy grin spreads over his face as he looks back in gratitude. It's such a simple thing - but a wheelchair can make all the difference in restoring dignity of the human spirit.

Later we were driven to the small village of Nabong.  We were fortunate to be accompanied by the Deputy Director in the Ministry of Education and Sport. We were headed to a water handover ceremony at the Nabong Primary and Secondary School - 750 students and 35 faculty. In a recent clean water and sanitation project, DIC built 12 toilet stalls, 4 handwashing stations, and piping and filters for clean drinking water. 

Deputy Director of the Ministry of Education and Sport inspects a handwashing station.

The 2 hour ceremony of speeches, dance, song and lunch were evidence of their extreme gratitude.

Girls dressed in traditional Hmong costumes.  Hmong are a minority group living in the area.

Click here for a video of these beautiful young women as they danced for us at the ceremony -  Hmong Dancers

Elder Coffey with some of the beautiful dancers

        Distributing school kits 

Dressed in costume for their dance routine, They were a little shy, but finally consented to a picture.

Traditional Lao hair style

But the "Fun Team" stole the show. Look at the faces of these young people as they watch in amazement when the "Fun Team", as the Elders are affectionately called, break out in an unexpected dance routine that rocked the school!

 Video of Elders Dancing

Life will never be the same for this school!  After the ceremonies, the "Fun Team" leads the students in water rocket launching. It is always a huge hit wherever they go.

The Elders have worked hard. Their shoes will probably never be the same either!

Meanwhile, the school staff have been cooking up a lunch for their visitors. 

In the pot go the veggies for our delicious lunch!

No need for too many utensils - fingers do the trick in Lao!

After the meal, the staff wash up the dishes in cold water.  Cold water dish-washing is typical in Asia.

Elder Coffey tries to get some of the students to pose for a picture.

There you go! Smiles and all! 

The greatest joy we experience on our mission is when we are out with the people, seeing their lives, their homes, their world. And everywhere we go, it is the humblest of people who carry the largest smiles. To act in the name of the Savior - to help restore dignity, lift out of poverty and bring hope to families - this is the healing mission of LDS Charities and of Deseret International Charities.

The LDS Charities website explains, "Sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, LDS Charities follows the admonition of Jesus Christ to help others in need. Jesus Christ taught His followers to give meat to the hungry and drink to those who thirst. His gospel includes taking in the stranger, loving neighbors, and visiting those who are sick or imprisoned. He taught that we are to love and care for each other, visit the fatherless and widows in their afflictions, and lift up those whose hands hang down and whose knees are feeble."

"To touch the soul of another human being 

is to walk on holy ground."

                                  Stephen Covey

Humanitarian Visits in Kohn Kaen,Thailand

From Chiang Mai we flew to Kohn Kaen. We were travelling with Elder and Sister Ellsworth, our Thailand humanitarian missionaries, and Elder and Sister Lyon, the MLS couple of the Kohn Kaen Branch.

View of Kohn Kaen from our hotel window.

There are more than 18,000 members of the Church in Thailand. We visited the chapel in Kohn Kaen - a thriving place!

One of our branch members is Nok.  Nok is a registered nurse and works for the Department of Communicable Disease. She is also a trained wheelchair assessor and trains other professionals on proper wheelchair assessments.

Kohn Kaen:

Our first humanitarian project visit was a mosquito net distribution in the village of Bau Thum.  This village leader (in military uniform) knows everyone in his village by name. 

We were traveling with the Rotary who had made the arrangements for the project distributions and ceremonies.

The Rotary worked with the local government leaders to help identify those in the village who needed nets the most, usually the poor, elderly or disabled. 

This woman (left, holding net) suffers from cancer, and was very grateful for her mosquito net.  Malaria and dengue fever are very prevalent here.

The second stop was at the village of Ban Nong Takai in the Sa Wa Tee district.  One hundred nets were distributed to a very grateful and humble group of villagers.

 

A spontaneous embrace from a grateful recipient.

This woman's smile depicts her gratitude.  I love the nail polish on her nails!

On Saturday November 7^th, we participated in a wheelchair distribution. Nok and two other trained assessors had worked with local government leaders to identify and assess those who could qualify for a wheelchair. Wheelchairs had been ordered according to the assessments, and arrived at the distribution with their names embroidered on the backs of their own individual wheelchairs. 

Ms. Da Wan, 45 years old, has been a diabetic for 20 years. Due to complications, two years ago she had the lower part of her right leg amputated.  This is the first wheelchair she has owned.  It will make a big difference in her life. Her smile tells it all.

This woman (right) has had weakness in her legs due to a car accident 26 years ago.  Medical care has not been able to help.  She has used a stick to hobble around with great difficulty.  This is her first wheelchair too.

This is Wat Pimkamlai (left).  She is 73 years old and had a stroke recently.  She is learning how to be more mobile and self reliant with the use of a wheelchair.  Family members and recipients received training on how to care for the wheelchair and how to maneuver it safely.

At the ceremony to distribute the wheelchairs, the Deputy Mayor of Khon Kaen spoke, as well as other key individuals. St. Josephs, a charitable NGO, helps LDS Charities in these projects by helping get the wheelchairs through customs and store them until they are distributed.  It is a triple partnership between LDS Charities, the Rotary, and St. Josephs - a combination that enables hundreds of people to be blessed throughout Thailand.

Other Scenes From Kohn Kaen:

Massive webs of wires are the norm here.

Little bamboo baskets with lids hold our sticky rice for us at meal time.

Traditional Thai food at a local restaurant - spicy!!!

Colorful and ready for business!