Very Happy Mother's Day!

May 9th was Mother's Day and we got to talk to Grady! I was so nervous about finding out when to call him because he didn't have email and his letters were sometimes kind of erratic with the mail. He was able to email us and tell us to call him at 4:30 on Sunday-our time--7:30 Am Monday morning--his P-day-- his time. We called the number he gave us and he answered. I can't explain what it was like to hear his voice again. Then, he apologized but asked us to call him back in three hours because they had an appointment at 8 AM! He said that was the only time they could meet with that investigator. It was completely fine and I was so grateful to know that my son knew how much more important it was to meet with this investigator. I'm glad he knew we would be fine with calling him back. So--we waited and waited and finally it was 7:30 PM and time to call him back. We were all here including Lenzi and Jon and the phone call was truly amazing. He had questions written down for all of us~it was really sweet. He sounded exactly the same. His laugh was contagious and he just sounded so happy! As we were hanging up he said "O.K. I hear someone crying. Who is that?" It was both Olivia and Lenzi, then I joined in. He was so cute when we told him it was just so good to hear his voice and that we missed him. He said, "I'm sorry you miss me. What can I do to help you all with that." That made us laugh, but he was really sincere and wanted to know what he could do to help ease our missing him! Then he told us that he really hadn't had a day where he was homesick. Ugg! That was kind of a shot in the gut!! He said he just didn't have time to be homesick and miss us because the work he was doing was so urgent. I am so grateful that he isn't homesick. I can't imagine how awful that would be-to be so far away and have that ache for home. I know Heavenly Father is protecting him and helping him stay strong and focused. I know he loves us and I am so very grateful that he is taking his mission seriously and doing all that he can to bring those sweet Japanese people the gospel.