It is hard to write this post, and I didn’t realize it until I sat down and put my hands on the keyboard. We lost our brother-in-law Ray Levesque two days ago. He is in his late sixties, and this happened VERY unexpectedly. He was husband to Roy’s only sister Cindi and a favorite uncle with my children who have many fun memories of him. He and Cindi have grown children and precious grandchildren. Being 8,000 miles away from family is one of the hardest things about consecrating two years to the Lord serving a mission!
I knew that part wouldn’t be easy. Roy and I have a large, extended family spread all over the country. I have wanted to do this kind of work all of my life! Roy consecrated two years when he was a young man to missionary work, and I wanted to have this experience too. It sounded wonderful… and usually is…. But we miss important things! I am going to miss my first grandchild’s wedding. I miss holidays and birthdays, first days of school, and graduations, and the list goes on. We are so happy serving and working in this beautiful country, learning a language, and working with the incredible people of the Philippines….. BUT when something hard happens, it is especially challenging to not be able to step in and help.
When my sister Gena got very ill a few weeks ago, I almost came home! Now that Ray has passed away, it is so hard not to drop everything and just head home! But we volunteered to serve for two years. Life can sometimes be too short. We miss our family so much and pray for our friends and our family every day. We talk to many of you and message the rest and try to keep up with things “back home” …. But I am a Face-to-face person, and this distance is the hardest challenge for me in our mission.
My own personal family separation makes me empathize with the many, many people here in the Philippines who work abroad. The economy is difficult here and many families have at least one wage earner working in another country. We know some young people who take care of their family for months at a time while BOTH parents work out of the country! They work in industries like cruise ships, ship building, mining etc. and they work in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia & all over the US. Nursing is a very popular profession as my sisters in the US can attest, many Filipino nurses work in the US to makes ends meet. One of Georges favorite nurses in his last years was a Filipino nurse.
In spite of having to work abroad, my experience is that Filipinos love their country & prefer to NOT to be far away from their islands and families. The Philippines is very warm, hospitable, and a beautiful paradise in most ways. If it were closer to the US….. THIS would be most people’s go-to vacation spot! It already is for most of southeast Asia! Many, many Europeans come and then stay here months of every year. The Philippine Islands are gorgeous and still reasonable where costs are concerned.
Anyway… I’m rambling and what I am trying to say is that it is hard for anyone to be so far away from home which brings me back to Roy and I, and Ray and Cindi. They spent so many years outside of the US on military assignments. Some of our fondest memories are visiting them when they were abroad, and the year Cindi lived with us while Ray was deployed to Iraq. I know Cindi understands being far away from home and not being able to drive home on short notice and she is being very kind about our inability to come home for a funeral. Ray is a good man. He was a good father and husband AND brother and will be missed! Roy and I have a firm testimony that we will see our family members who have passed on someday in the future. This life is only part of our existence, and we WILL meet again.
We send our love to those who are grieving Rays loss and feel very sad that we can’t attend the funeral and the inevitable “reunion” that accompanies even a heartbreaking event like this while supporting each other during the grief process. We love Ray and will miss him terribly! Our love and prayers to all who are grieving.
I can’t seem to gather my thoughts, and this post isn't very smooth or coherent... and I certainly can't seem say anything else that makes sense so I a m going to close this entry and try to do pictures and other thoughts next week. I just can’t put on my “happy face” right now.
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