Just a dash of pepper... And support.

So a few things today --

1:

 Derek leaves on Wednesday. The absolute most awesome thing about it? His mom outed to his family and I his estimated return date! Dec. 3 2014! Less than a week after his two year. Waiting is going to be so much easier having a deadline from the start.

2: [this is for all you girls out there debating about telling your mish you miss him]

I think it is important to stress in every letter that you are proud of his serving of the Lord. I've never read or seen anything that DOESN'T state that fact. But everything I have read also stresses not ever mentioning your state of being, like missing him, which seems like absolute bullpoopie to me.

Girls we are doing something that our Father in heaven has willed us to do. It is extremely difficult for us to be away from them because they are our prospective eternal companion. Much more so than their difficulty, because really they don't have the TIME to miss us. Lord willing.

So if you want to write "P.S. I miss you, your hugs, and your voice. And I love you more everyday." DO IT. It is just bad for you to think you are not allowed to write that. You feel pain just as anyone else. Despite what the pain will result in. As a missionary he is serving God. As a missionary he should be able to handle the fact that the woman waiting for him is missing him without veering off track.

Just... Don't expect him to always reciprocate your lovey dovey notes at the end of letters. Expect to hear spiritual stories and - if your missionary is anything like mine - crazy tales of the things him and his companion do on P-Days. Don't expect him to be the constant support you so desperately need. The Lord should come first to him. Then his family. Then you. Then friends.

You are a daughter of God, and he loves you, and he gives you a choice in all things. And he understands your need to love your missionary in all times, and in all he does, or else you wouldn't have found him. Just remember that free choice means you have to persevere to reap what you and your missionary have sewn.