Here's Quick One

Another little tidbit about me and my family.  Two weeks after I came home, my little brother (Jon) left on his mission.  Most people say that two weeks really isn't a very long time to be with someone when you're in a situation like mine.  I suppose they're right, but I've never really felt that it was a cruel thing that my brother is gone for another two years.

Why?

Well, a couple of reasons:  The biggest one is because there is an LDS family that lives across the street from us, and they had one of their daughters get back from her mission on the same day that their next youngest daughter left.  They were allowed to visit with each other, alone, for a very brief amount of time (I can't recall if it was 30 minutes or 2 hours--but you get the picture).  So I got pretty lucky to have an entire 336 hours with my bro. 

The other reason is because serving a mission is awesome!  I know he's going to be having loads of fun and will be having the most amazing experiences.  And unlike me, Jon is going to a truly foreign place.   Jon is serving in the Kobe, Japan mission, which covers the central part of the main island.  It is home to several major cities (Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima, Kobe, etc.), and to some amazing culture.  This mission also has some really deep personal connections as well.  I won't get into all of those details here, but you can read about them here at http://jon-low.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html. 

Right before he left, my brother expressed some anxiety about leaving.  This is totally normal.  There's a lot of things to be anxious about.  I remember I had similar feelings as well right before I left.  I remember talking to one of my friends from my freshmen year at college about this.  This friend was older and had recently returned from serving a mission (I believe it was somewhere in South America).  As I went on about the thoughts of leaving all my friends behind and putting a stumbling block in my school work, my friend interrupted me and said "there will always be a hundred different reasons for not going."  I was taken off guard by his frankness.  "But," he continued, "you can't afford to not go."  Latter on, this same friend said the only thing I need to remember is that my savior loves me, and that the rest will take care of itself.

And it did. 

If you're interested in learning more about my little brother, you can visit his blog at http://jon-low.blogspot.com/.  Also, Jon's Mission President in the Kobe mission keeps a blog as well (a mission president is in charge of all the missionaries in a specific mission.  He is in charge of deciding on who goes to what town, as well as the well being of all the missionaries in his jurisdiction.).  You can follow his blog at http://presidentmcintyre.blogspot.com/