cc: file, Mom, Sara and Des, Lloyd and Luana Warner, Darrell and Nancy Krueger, Charles and Diane Cluff, and Claude and Katherine Warner, Forest and Amy Warner, Ivan and Chell Warner, and Eric and Renee Miner
"As Melanie, Sara, and Paul know, tonight we had an absolutely full house. I was sorry that Rob and Ben did not join with us and that Roice was already in Colorado snow boarding and couldn't be here. We do have a lot of friends, and it was wonderful to see the house full of them, a house full of laughter, a house full of talking and joy, and a house full of people who care about Paul and wanted to wish him the best as he makes final preparation to leave for Novosibirsk.
This is my first time to experience the emotions of a farewell so directly. I thought the sacrament meeting a couple of weeks ago went well, and there were a lot of nice comments to those of us that participated: Roice playing an original number on the piano, Marti and Paul's talks, as well as my talk. But it was quite different to have so many friends come to the house, show such enthusiasm for Paul's choice, and express their support for each of us in the family, and really caring.
It was especially nice to see David and Karen Kessler and their two kids. They are growing up so fast. Jordan is already 5 years old. For those not of our immediate family that get this thoughtlet, David lived with us several times for extended periods of time. He was a PhD student from the University of Tel Aviv at the time. He was also a tank commander in the Israeli Army. In fact, the last time Isreal made a major incursion into Lebonon, David's group was within a few miles of Arafat's command post (the Palestanian's didn't even know they were under attack yet), and he was told to back down and not take it. They would go in and take over Russian tanks, wear uniforms of their opponents, and the other side thought they were their guys. David has visited the farm with me. Marti and I stayed with Karen and David for about a week in Israel, and they took us everywhere. I guess I could go on like this about each of the various members of the ward, and each of the other non-member friends who came by, but I won't. I will just use this opportunity to tell all of you how proud I am of Paul's choice, of how well he seems to be preparing himself, and of how good of a job I believe he will do. I am sure there will be hard times, like the 20 pounds Uncle Lloyd mentioned he has lost in his Christmas e-mail, but I am equally sure there are benefits that outweigh this kind of a loss.
I guess the beauty of a missionary farewell or even of the farewell accompanying the death of a loved one is that we know it is temporary. We know we will see them again, that there will be an opportunity to embrace, to be seen as we are seen, and to know as we are known. In the longer term perspective this is because of the love of our elder brother and our Savior, whose birth we celebrate this week. I wish each of you happy holidays, and look forward to seeing an expanded dialog develop over the coming months relative to my efforts to distribute these thoughtlets."