I love my MM's!

I have mentioned my missionary mom group before and I thought I would finally dedicate a post to them. When Jordan got his call, I researched everything to do with Guatemala, missionaries, and surviving being a missionary mom. I came across this site that linked moms from around the world through an email group with missionaries serving in the same area. I was immediately welcomed to this fabulous group of women whose sons and daughters are serving, or will be serving, in the 5 missions of Guatemala and the 2 missions of El Salvador. Little did I know that these ladies would become some of my closest friends. They helped me with my gazillion questions ranging from what are the best shoes, garments, luggage to buy to other concerns like how do we send packages safely, etc. But most importantly, they supported me in my fears and my sadness as I faced saying goodbye to my missionary son.

I, in turn, have learned so much about everyday missionary life in Central America and have grown to love each of their missionaries as my own. I look forward to hearing their weekly updates. We cheer each other on through the good times, and eveyone is able to truly empathize during the hard times as well. Probably one of the best things about this group is that none of us ever get sick of talking about or hearing about each other's missionaries! We all savor every little detail.

Just two days after we dropped Jordan off at the MTC, a few moms organized a MM dinner at The Spaghetti Factory. This was the first time that I actually met some of these friends face to face. They traveled from all over Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and Idaho. We had such a wonderful evening! There was never an awkward pause or what I call "superficial politeness." We all felt like old friends who had been there for each other in the trenches! It felt SO good to be able to give a big hug to a few friends that I have gotten extra close to and whose sons I have "adopted" as my own.

After a nice meal and sharing of stories and photographs, some of us came back to my house for some dessert and some real "chat" time.

The husbands were all good sports and made themselves comfortable on the couches and watched the Olympics. The women all gathered in the kitchen around the hot fudge sauce and brownies for several more hours of chatting and sharing.

The only sad part about the night was all the friends that weren't able to make it. We have MMs from all over the U.S. in our Central America group and I know some I will never meet face to face. But I am so thankful that I can call all these ladies my friends and for all the tears and laughs that we have shared and will continue to share throughout this missionary journey and beyond.