Preparing Emotionally: Acknowledge the mixed emotions you'll feel. It's normal to be both excited and sad. Understand that sending your missionary off for 18 or 24 months can be counterintuitive to your mothering instincts. Allow yourself to feel these emotions and support your missionary through their own feelings of excitement and nervousness.
Practical Preparation: Create a checklist of items to pack, including clothing, personal care items, and important documents. Complete last-minute tasks and errands to reduce stress. Being organized can help make the day smoother.
MTC Drop-Off: The drop-off process at the MTC is usually quick and efficient. Make the most of your limited time by preparing some final words of encouragement and love. Take a few moments to create lasting memories with photos and recording your thoughts and emotions afterward.
Airport Drop-Off: This experience is different but equally emotional. Navigate the check-in process, security, and final goodbye at the gate with preparation and calmness. Remember that your missionary will be without a cell phone, which can feel untethering. Stay positive and offer words of support.
Trusting the Journey: Reflect on the importance of trusting God and the positive aspects of the missionary journey. Consider the thoughts your brain serves you and work on replacing unhelpful thoughts with empowering ones. Focus on the growth and experiences your missionary will have.
Final Thoughts: Prepare for the drop-off both emotionally and practically. Whether you're heading to the MTC or the airport, knowing what to expect can help make the experience smoother. Focus on making the most of your time, offering encouragement, and creating positive memories. Remember that this is a significant moment for both you and your missionary.
Thank you so much for listening to the LDS Missionary Mom Podcast. If you have any stories or experiences you'd like to share, please email me. I would love to hear from you and share your stories in a future episode. Until next time, keep supporting your missionary with love. Bye-bye!
Share your missionary stories where you agree to allow me to share them: michellesevans.coach@gmail.com
Preparing Emotionally: Acknowledge the mixed emotions you'll feel. It's normal to be both excited and sad. Understand that sending your missionary off for 18 or 24 months can be counterintuitive to your mothering instincts. Allow yourself to feel these emotions and support your missionary through their own feelings of excitement and nervousness.
Practical Preparation: Create a checklist of items to pack, including clothing, personal care items, and important documents. Complete last-minute tasks and errands to reduce stress. Being organized can help make the day smoother.
MTC Drop-Off: The drop-off process at the MTC is usually quick and efficient. Make the most of your limited time by preparing some final words of encouragement and love. Take a few moments to create lasting memories with photos and recording your thoughts and emotions afterward.
Airport Drop-Off: This experience is different but equally emotional. Navigate the check-in process, security, and final goodbye at the gate with preparation and calmness. Remember that your missionary will be without a cell phone, which can feel untethering. Stay positive and offer words of support.
Trusting the Journey: Reflect on the importance of trusting God and the positive aspects of the missionary journey. Consider the thoughts your brain serves you and work on replacing unhelpful thoughts with empowering ones. Focus on the growth and experiences your missionary will have.
Final Thoughts: Prepare for the drop-off both emotionally and practically. Whether you're heading to the MTC or the airport, knowing what to expect can help make the experience smoother. Focus on making the most of your time, offering encouragement, and creating positive memories. Remember that this is a significant moment for both you and your missionary.
Thank you so much for listening to the LDS Missionary Mom Podcast. If you have any stories or experiences you'd like to share, please email me. I would love to hear from you and share your stories in a future episode. Until next time, keep supporting your missionary with love. Bye-bye!
Share your missionary stories where you agree to allow me to share them: michellesevans.coach@gmail.com
Hello, and welcome to another episode of LDS missionary moms. This is the podcast where we support. Uplift each other on this unique journey of having a missionary out in the field. I'm Michelle Evans. And today we're talking about a significant milestone in every missionary mom's journey. Or dropping off our missionaries at either the MTC or the airport. So this can be a very emotional and overwhelming experience. So we're here to offer a little bit of guidance. And a whole lot of support and love to all the moms out there. So first let's talk about preparing for the drop-off. Both emotionally and practically. So saying goodbye to your missionary can be incredibly emotional. So let's just normalize. That, although you're excited for them to serve. It's really important to acknowledge that sending your missionary off for 18 or 24 months is going to be hard. Because there is an emphasis on missions in our church. And culture, there seems to be a disconnect. The moms think that their feelings about miss missing their missionaries are somehow not allowed or shouldn't exist. That it should be nothing but excitement and lollipops and gumdrops. It doesn't matter how much faith or belief you have in missions. Sending off an a missionary can be very emotional and very counter-intuitive. To your mother mothering instinct. So it's important to allow yourself to feel those feelings. But also to be strong for your missionary, remember that they are likely feeling a mixture of excitement, nervousness too. So supporting each other through this time is key. So it's okay to feel excited for them and sad because you'll miss them at the same time. And just know that you're going to feel a lot of contradicting emotions. And that's totally normal. So on a practical note, let's make sure that we have everything ready for the drop-off. So one of the ways you can help, uh, eliminate some of the stress is just by creating a checklist of items. To pack from clothing to personal care items. And important documents. Completing last minute tasks and errands before the big day. This really helps reduce stress and it ensures that nothing is forgotten. So let's talk about what to expect when dropping your missionary off at the MTC. The drop-off Trop process at the MTC is usually quick and efficient and it's totally changed. From, you know, 20 years ago. Fam families are just given a limited time. For goodbyes. So it's really important to make the most of it. So, if you would just consider about what you want to say so that you offer some final words of encouragement and love. And take a few moments to create a lasting memory of, you know, a photo with the missionary. That's helping them. Unload there. Um, their stuff and sometimes this can feel kind of rushed, but it's okay for you. To kind of take a deep breath and ask for a photo. And then the other thing with dropping off a missionary that's really important is when you get home, make sure that you record any thoughts and emotions that came off during this prophet process. Because these moments will be cherished by you and your missionary, and is really important to make sure that you record them. And then it's helpful to remember that the MTC staff and the other missionaries that are there are help. Are there to help your missionary transition smoothly. So try and trust that they are in good hands. And focus on the positive aspects of their journey ahead. Now, if you're dropping your missionary off of the airport, this experience will be different, but equally emotional. So I've done both. I've had my missionary. I've dropped them off directly at the MTC. I've also dropped two of them off at the airport because they've been, you know, going to a different MTC. So navigating the check-in process security and that final goodbye at the gate. Before going. Through security can be really overwhelming. So you want to be prepared for those steps? And let's not let our brain act surprised. By sending them off on a plane without a cell phone. Think about that ahead of time, know that that is going to come up. Um, we've had cell phones. We've had our kids. Uh, locations. We've been able to check in on them. And we're sending them off with no way of. Uh, tracking their progress and seeing exactly where they are, and that can feel very untethering as a mom. Especially in this day. So think about like that. That's going to be a thing. Um, if they're traveling after the MTC to a foreign country, that's also going to be a thing. They're not going to have a cell phone, or they're not going to be able to check in immediately. So think about that and prepare yourself for how that's going to feel. And how you want to. Uh, show up during that kind of uncertainty. So make sure that you stay calm and organized and make sure that you also, um, offer those last words of support. So that they're going off in a really positive note. So when it's time for the final farewell focus on offering words of love and encouragement. Remember. That you're missionary remind, I'm sorry. Remind your missionary of their purpose and the support that they have from home. And it's okay to feel emotional, but you want to try to stay positive. And be strong and help infuse all of the positive energy and confidence that they are going to need as they embark on this mission. And also be genuine. And it's okay to offer. Um, You know, the different emotions that are coming up and asking them about what's happening for them. But you want to be onto your brain because your brain's main job is to keep you safe. As well as your kids. So is fear. If you're brain's main job is to keep you safe. It's also to keep you alive. So consider that is also to keep your kids alive. So your brain will start to feed you thoughts that may not serve you in the moment. And remember just because you think it doesn't make it true. And it's totally a natural instinct to want to keep your chicks in the nest, but we want to be aware that growth will only happen when they learn how to fly for themselves. And I saw a really funny quote. It says I'm not an empty nester. I'm a bird launcher. So that is something that I've thought about. Like, as I'm sending my, my boys off on missions is just, I'm helping them launch and just know that. Um, the missionary experience is something so unique to our church. And there's other missions, uh, or other churches that do mission trips, but they're short and they're not nearly as intense. And this is a really launching aspect into their life. So when I was getting ready to drop off my missionary last summer, I realized that my brain kept thinking, I can't do this again. And it was funny because I caught that thought. As I was getting into my truck and I was, and I was like, wait a minute. Why am I thinking that. And so I started to repeat in my mind, I am doing this, which was much more empowering and it also helped shift the energy that I was in. Instead of being in kind of this scarcity lack energy. I was more in this empowering love energy. So consider, um, what thoughts are coming through your mind as. You're getting ready to drop them off and also what and dropping them off. And one way to do that is just to write it down and see what it is that your brain is feeding you. So I, I sit and write every day. Well most days. And so just that way I can really be on to what my brain is serving me. Now I have a son that's leaving this September. And I have caught my brain a couple of times serving me some unhelpful thoughts. This is one of them. This is going to be the hardest because he's the youngest and I won't have any kids left. So I'm working on replacing that thought with he's the most prepared because he's watched his brothers served missions. And this really helps put my brain on a path. That's a lot more supportive and acknowledges how much he wants to go. And the benefit that he'll receive. Okay. So the last thing I want to share is that when my oldest son was serving. And I felt so out of control with my emotions and it went on for months. And I felt like they were everywhere and I was really questioning the whole idea of a mesh emission. Especially when he started to encounter some dangerous situations. And I had a friend who asked me a question. Which I still come back to now. And she said. Do you trust God? Now that was a shocking question at the time, because I realized that it really took some work for me in my prayers to say that I trust you. Because things weren't. Um, turning out the way that I thought they should. And I had my own ideas about how a mission should look and it didn't shape up that way. So when I sent my other boys out on missions, I started saying in my prayers before they left. I trust you. No matter what happens. And this helped me keep the focus on the reason that I was sending my boys on missions. And which was basically to teach people about Christ and trusting Christ. Which was really hard because we have a certain amount of control. Um, over our kids, when they leave home, we start to lose that control and that can feel very. Um, untethering. And so just being able to really turn them over. And trust that Christ has them. No matter what comes and that he has you as a mother as well. let me just summarize, preparing for the drop-off involves both emotional and practical steps. Do not neglect the emotional steps. whether you're heading to the MTC or the airport, knowing what to expect can help you make the experience. A whole lot smoother. So focus on making the most of your time. Offering encouragement being thoughtful about that encouragement. And what you want to say and really creating some positive memories. Remember that this is a significant moment for both you and your missionary. All right. You guys. That's what I have for you today. I hope you find this episode helpful. Remember, you're not alone in this journey. Um, I have included my email in the show notes, and I would love to hear some of your stories. So if you could please reach out and send those to me. And I will be collecting those and sharing those on a future episode. All right. Thank you so much for listening to the LDS missionary mom podcast until next time. Keep supporting your missionary with love. All right. Bye-bye.
