Happy Birthday, Brent!

Today, July 17th, is Brent’s 39th birthday and I’ve been thinking of him all day long. I’m so grateful he’s our son and I dedicate this blog to him.

I saw Brazil for the first time when Marsh and I went to pick Brent up from his mission in Curitiba. We arrived at Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport after a long flight from New York City's JFK. At Guarulhos we collected our luggage, crept slowly through customs, found our connecting gate and prepared to board for our final leg to Curitiba. To our utter dismay and alarm we discovered that this flight, though paid for, had never been confirmed by our travel agent. We had lost the reservation and were told there were no other available seats on flights to Curitiba for several days.

Then things got very exciting. Marsh had not spoken Portuguese in nearly twenty-five years and at that time none of the airline employees spoke English. He dusted off his Portuguese and went to work trying to get us to Curitiba. The flight we were supposed to catch left without us and we still had no hope of getting another. We considered renting a car and driving, but that would take a day or so and by this time Brent and his mission president, President Oliveira, were already waiting for us at the airport in Curitiba. In 1992 there were no cell phones that would allow us to reach him with our change of plans. After a couple of frustratingly fruitless hours trying everything we could think of, our situation looked hopeless. We were sweating bullets. Then, miraculously, someone found us two seats on a plane leaving immediately. We ran and caught it with just minutes to spare. I was still shaky when our plane landed in Curitiba a couple of hours later and so excited that soon we would finally see Brent.

As the plane taxied down the tarmac, from out of my window I caught a glimpse of movement on a distant airport balcony. I peered closer at the small figures, one a tall man in a dark suit excitedly waving both arms back and forth. With a leap of my heart I realized it was Brent, our Elder Tanner.

It seemed to take forever to disembark but finally there he was waiting for us at the gate with a shining face and his radiant smile. He looked so good. I wrapped my arms around him and cried a bucket of joyful tears. I couldn’t let go of him, and I couldn’t stop crying. We were so happy to see our beautiful boy again. I will carry forever in my memory that priceless image of our tall shining son on the balcony waving to us with such typical abandon and energy.

He is the only one of our four missionary sons that we ‘picked up.’ I’m so glad we did. Everywhere we went we saw how much he loved the members of the branches and wards and how loved he was in return. He always had a flock of children following him around like puppies, clamoring for Elder Tanner’s attention, which he gave each one.

This past year, as Marsh and I have spoken at church meetings throughout the mission we have met faithful members who served in Curitiba with Brent. They come up to us with their families and ask hopefully if we are related to a really tall, blonde, good-looking Elder Tanner who served in Curitiba years ago. They are so excited when we make the connection. Brent is remembered with much love and fondness. His old mission companions have wonderful stories to tell. Teary-eyed and laughing they tell about his enthusiasm, his smile, his hard work, his humility. He worked tirelessly and did so much good.

Sister Almeida (nee Camargo) is one of those missionaries. Today she is married to the second counselor in the Botucatu District presidency and has several children. At our last district conference she excitedly brought several of her old mission photos to show us. I looked at those pictures and the years dropped away. It seemed like it was only a moment ago that Brent was an enthusiastic 21 years old with boundless energy and never-say-die determination.

Today, Brent is a devoted husband and father to his wonderful family. He works long and hard to care for them. I am proud of the good man you are, Brent. Happy Birthday! I love you with all my heart.







The above photo is of Brent's first Mission President and wife, President and Sister Covington. Sister Almeida, nee Carmargo, who gave me these photos)is in the center.

Our First Year

On June 30th we reached the one-year mark of our three year mission; three hundred and sixty-five jam-pack days. When we pulled up to the Mission home for the first time a year ago we had no real idea what the next twelve months would bring. As a former Mission President once said to me, a mission is made up of long days and short weeks. He was dead on. In those fifty-two weeks Marsh has given around 960 missionary interviews, read and replied to 8300 weekly missionary emails, taken hundreds and hundreds of phone calls, some at midnight or 5 AM, written 52 articles for the weekly Mission Newsletter, conducted 20 half-day Zone/District Leader Leadership Training Meetings and 8 full-day Multi-Zone Missionary Conferences, met 130 times with stake presidents in monthly PPIs, and participated in 20 stake leadership training meetings. We have sent home 94 loved elders and sisters and welcomed 100 wonderful new missionaries to fill their shoes. We have spoken in over 93 Sacrament meetings and firesides and have driven over 30,000 miles to get to all the places we need to be.

I have answered some 2,000 phone calls from missionaries sick with colds, flu, appendicitis, pink eye, fungi, hernias, dog bites, spider bites, ingrown toenails, flat feet, knee pain, ankle pain, back pain, stomach pain, chicken pox, food poisoning, heart inflamation, and kidney infections, toothaches, migraines and much more. I have cooked batch after batch of hot fudge sauce, baked nearly 100 loaves of banana bread and a couple thousand snickerdoodles, brownies and chocolate chip cookies. I have purchased (and often delivered with Marsh) countless irons, washing machines, fridges, beds, blankets, fans, mattresses and on and on, and with the priceless help of our housekeeper, Leonora, prepared dozens of gigantic meals for a lot of ravenous young missionaries.

Throughout this year we have met many faithful and dedicated saints in the stakes, wards and branches of the mission and we’ve heard their inspiring and faith promoting stories of conversion. Best of all we’ve gotten to know and love our missionaries like our own family and we really miss them when they return home after their missions. Many of them write to us about their engagements and weddings and plans for school and jobs and we have had quite a few come back to visit and sometimes to live and work within the mission boundaries.

These are just numbers but they help to tell the story of our life this past year. It has been an amazing experience, both exhausting and fulfilling. Nothing else we’ve ever done has been quite like this. We will take what we've learned and try to do even better this coming year. I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve here and most grateful that I’ve gotten to do it with the perfect companion, my beloved Marsh.