Preparing Future Missionaries

Dear Posterity,
Last night we had the opportunity to have the missionaries over for dinner. They are such wonderful sweet boys. I am raising 9 future missionaries and I was asking how their mother's prepared them for the mission field. I was pretty sure they didn't do such a good job of preparing them since they were sent to Utah Valley where there is hardly any missionary work to be done. But sometimes the mission is for the people and sometimes the mission is for the missionary. Since the raising the bar there aren't that many that slip through that need the mission for them but those that do get sent here to 'Happy Valley' so we saints can help perfect them.

I thought I'd take a minute and share how we've prayerfully decided to prepare our boys for missions. Like I said yesterday, 'Be Prepared' is more then just the Boy Scout motto! When our boys are conceived we decide which language they should learn (obviously through fasting and prayer) and start to teach them from the womb. At night I play tapes of hymns being sung in the language of choice with headphones on my belly, as well as the scriptures on CD in that language. After they're born we continue to teach them while they sleep and begin formal language training with tutors at the age of 2.

So far they are learning the following:
Adam (14) fluent in Icelandic (having the MTC close is such a blessing!)
Caleb (13) fluent in French
Elijah (12) fluent in Spanish
Felix (11) fluent in Japanese
Gideon (10) fluent in Tagalog
Isaac (9) Conversant in Swahili
Kenan (6) learning Farsi (we're sure he's going to open some Middle Eastern Missions!)
Matthew (4) learning French
Nephi (2) learning German
Ophir (4 months) learning Portuguese

We are also raising them in righteousness to prepare them to serve the Lord in a foreign mission- because the most righteous missionaries are the ones the Lord can trust with foreigners and farther away from Zion as well as being among not as 'strong' of members. I take my job as their mother very seriously and by the time they're 9 they do their own laundry from start to finish and all children in our house learn to cook starting at 5. By they time they're 10 they're assigned 'dinner nights' when they're in charge of preparing dinner for 17! Most adult women can't even do this!

We also have 'cultural night' on Thursday nights where the children prepare a dinner of food from a country of their choice, we dress up in culturally appropriate attire, play musical selections from the country and sometimes watch a movie with subtitles! What better ways to prepare children to adjust to different cultures and circumstances!

One of our favorite FHE activities are 'missionary prep' nights. We have scripture chases, relays where they need to sew on a button, shine their shoes, play a Hymn from memory, and make a bed.

How are you preparing your future missionaries?

Love,
Molly

1. The MTC
2. Missionaries to help perfect
3. Sons (my future missionaries!)

Tuesday Tidy Day!

Cleanliness is next to Godliness, Tidiness is next to impossible!

Dear Posterity,
Living in a house with 17 people requires quite a bit of teamwork. Lucky for me I have the best and hardest working kids ever! Every day everyone has chores that need to be done and everyone has a time for their laundry. But Tuesdays are our deep cleaning day. We move in teams from room to room and really get down to the nitty gritty and CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN! I just can't handle it when I know that the baseboards are dirty or that the ceilings haven't been dusted recently! My boys work on the outside of the house, mowing and edging the lawn, gardening, cleaning the garage floor, power washing the exterior of the house, and of course washing and detailing the cars.

The girls and I work on cleaning out cabinets and wiping them down, cleaning the oven, dusting behind the dryer and many other places that get missed when we clean the rest of the week. I'm so glad that by homeschooling I can teach my children not only reading, writing and arithmetic, but also how to work hard and keep a spotless home! Work is such a blessing!

Love, Molly