What an amazing Mother’s Day! We were privileged to spend part of it with a singles ward in Madison where an amazing friend of our was baptized yesterday and confirmed today. We’re so pleased to know her and so proud of her faith and courage. What a great ward she has. I’m so proud of those young people and their love for the Gospel and their kindness to others.

This special day included time with my oldest son, my daughter-in-law, and their two kids. Our plan was to stay there in Madison and wait for a super-special event that makes Mother’s Day extra special for many mothers: the phone call from a distant missionary son or daughter. In this case, we were expecting a call from our son in Taiwan around 4:30 p.m. or so. My wife had emailed him earlier to let him know that we’d be in Madison, reachable by our cell phones. But as 4 pm approached, I began to get uneasy and felt we should head home early. It was one of those things that didn’t make a lot of sense and I really would have enjoyed spending more time with the grandkids, but it just seemed time to go. I suggested that we leave, offering a couple of possible reasons, including the risk that our missionary son might want to call home instead of our cell phones. My wife and son felt OK with that, so we finished our good-byes and left, expecting to get the call on a cell phone while driving back to Appleton.

Two hours later, within 5 minutes of arriving home, my wife was surprised and delighted to receive the long-awaited call from Taiwan. Our son was not aware that he should have called our cell phones, and I’m not sure that he would still remember the numbers if he had needed to try them since he missed the email or the part of an email that mentioned our trip to Madison and gave the numbers to call. Such a tiny little thing as getting us to leave early made such a big difference in the happiness of this day.

What a treat it was to speak with our son in Taiwan and learn of his recent experiences and joy in his work. He has some terrific investigator families and is seeing some real success in a beautiful part of that country on the east coast. Solid leadership in his branch makes a huge difference in the success of missionary work there, and the kindness of so many many members and others in the community is deeply appreciated. He told us he’s absolutely glad he’s there and would recommend it to anyone. Nice to hear that! He was also thrilled to hear the details of the baptism and confirmation of his friend and ours.

So grateful for these little things that really added up to some huge blessings in our lives.