Continuation or simple rules

Marcia and I, many years ago, were taught some very simple rules to live by.

Our marriage is compartmentalized into two different categories- domestic and international. I handle all international events- declaration of war, treaties, trade embargoes, etc. For the duration of our marriage of 35 years I have been successful in those regards.

Marcia has been in charge of domestic events- house we live in, cars we drive, furniture in the house, family vacations, etc. She has done a tremendous job and we are both happy in our marriage and with each other.

Another simple rule is that we have put each other first- before ourselves and before our children. We love our children tremendously. When it comes to who outranks whom in our family our children know that mom is first in dad's eyes and vise-versa.

These simple rules and our adherence to them are reflective of something greater. We follow these rules because of our love for each other and for our family. It is because of that love we strive to do that which is beneficial to the whole- not to the individual. It is reflective in our obedience to the standards and expectations that we have for each other, for our marriage, and for our family.

Marcia and I left Indiana on Monday, March 28th, to begin serving a mission for our church in South Africa. We are leaving our home, our children, grandchildren, and friends for 18 months to help build the Kingdom of God in a vast majority of Africa. Our assignment is to serve as the area mental health advisers for the Southeast Africa area of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. This is similar to the role we filled in the Philippines in 2012-2013. Unlike the Philippines our area of service will range from South Africa to Kenya and countries between.

Today we entered the mission training center, MTC, located in Provo, Utah. We joined 84 other couples in a week of training to help us assist the Lord in building His kingdom. It will be a spiritual feast with good people who will be traveling the world in the next few weeks. We have met couples going to Russia, England, New Zealand, Guam, Micronesia, and places between.

The journey begins....