Not exactly - that is - leaving for home. We are taking a circuitous route via Israel and England! But we have only four more days till we do leave. A year and-a-half certainly goes by quickly! And we leave with mixed emotions of the highest degree!
We love our mission, and especially the Young Single Adults (YSAs) we have had the opportunity to serve. And we also love the Nicosia Branch members we have had the opportunity to serve! So we are very torn about leaving all those whom we love.
On the other hand, we have waited all our married lives to get the opportunity to go to Israel and we are really ready to go there! Our dream of a lifetime is soon to come true!
So let the celebrating begin, we are on our way home! Somebody tell Caroline we are on our way! Goodbye Cyprus.
Well folks - here we go on the downward spiral! We will be in Israel three days after Christmas! All our plane tickets and hotel reservations are confirmed for the two week tour(s) of Israel and England. We have now officially decided we can get "trunky"! Ha! That's the Mormon missionary term for, "I cannot wait, I am going home!" We have so many plans of things to do after we get home:
1. See all our kids and grandkids!
2. Go to Cholo's to eat.
3. Go to COSTCO! Ha!
4. Go to Disneyland!
Gosh! There are so many things we want to do - I'd be really challenged to write them all down!
At any rate we are winding down with our duties here in Cyprus, and saying our 'goodbyes' to all. This is going to be hard, because as all missionaries do - we have become so attached to the people here!
We can now see that we will never have time to do all we wanted before we depart for Israel. There are so many events scheduled for December.
First - Our final CES/YSA Conference here in Cyprus, December 2-5. We will be hosting the CES/YSA couple from Athens, Greece and our Area CES Director as well. We will be finishing up all the CES business here on the Island and for Athens too. Neither couple are being replaced. Instead the church is sending one YSA couple to do the work both in Athens and Cyprus. Interesting idea. We'll see how it works out.
Second - The Nicosia Branch Christmas Party, December 14th. Lots of food and fun at the Nicosia Chapel.
Third - The Nicosia District Zone Christmas Party, December 20th. Again, food, fun and a trip to the retirement center to sing Christmas Carols and read to the residents. Always a lovely party!
Fourth - The Nicosia Branch Christmas Program and Farewell to President and Sister Vargas. A beautiful program with lots of Scripture reading and Christmas hymns and songs.
Fifth - The Nicosia Cyprus Branch Missionaries all get together for three days of celebrating. There will be delicious food, games, movies and memories to be made! Maybe a trip to the Troodos Mountains if there is any snow.
Then on December 28th at 10:30 PM our flight leaves from Larnaca, Cyprus to go to Tel Aviv, Israel! Where we will stay 10 days, then off to England to visit Sister Michelle Wu in Leeds, England, and the Nicholls family in London, England. After five days we will return home on January 11th to LAX Airport via Heathrow Airport in England.
