Missionary Gift

[Lillie]

I was wondering if any one had any good ideas for a gift to give to a very special missionary who is returning home. He has blessed our family so much and I really want to give him something special. Thanks for any help or ideas.

[CookieC]

All three of my sons have served missions in varying parts of the world, and they treasure all the little gifts and notes that they were given by the people that they served!

The gifts that seemed to make the biggest impact on my sons were the phone calls and letters that people sent to my husband and I. When my middle son came home from Oregon, we had a little stack of notes from people that he had met and worked with telling us what a wonderful missionary he had been. He got pretty emotional as he read what they had written. We also had a couple of members call us while he was still in the mission field. When we told him about the calls, he was just so amazed that someone would take the time to tell us about the effect that he had had on their lives. (I should admit here, that I got pretty emotional, too, when I received the calls!)

My oldest son has some artwork made by a member especially for him. He was so pleased to show us his gift when he returned.

I think any gift that comes from your heart is going to be a perfect way to say thanks!

[Lillie]

Thank you so much for your reply.

[dahlia]

All three of my sons have served missions in varying parts of the world, and they treasure all the little gifts and notes that they were given by the people that they served!

The gifts that seemed to make the biggest impact on my sons were the phone calls and letters that people sent to my husband and I.

I have given my missionaries souvenirs from my college town as suggested here on the boards. I was touched that one fella wore his shirt all Christmas and sent pictures of him in it to his mother.

Until I read your post, it did not occur to me to send something to their parents. I think this is a great idea, but wonder how to do it - it seems a bit much to ask for their parents' addresses, but maybe that's just me. How about writing a note and placing it in a sealed envelope, asking the missionary to give it to his parents upon his return?

If you have another way to do this, I'm interested to hear.

[Lillie]

Dahlia, I did ask this missionary for his home address so we could keep in contact and I had already planned on writing his mother. So I would just ask...lol

[bytebear]

I still have a Christmas ornament given to me by a Russian immigrant family. Amazing to think what they left behind and offered to give me that little piece of their history.

[CookieC]

Until I read your post, it did not occur to me to send something to their parents. I think this is a great idea, but wonder how to do it - it seems a bit much to ask for their parents' addresses, but maybe that's just me. How about writing a note and placing it in a sealed envelope, asking the missionary to give it to his parents upon his return?

If you have another way to do this, I'm interested to hear.

I think that the families who wrote to us had just asked my son for his home address. Then, before he actually came home, they wrote to us instead. All the notes and letters were addressed to "Brother and Sister *****", no first names. Some of them have contacted him directly since he came home, too. In fact, one family that he worked with wrote to say that they were going to the temple in in Salt Lake and invited him to join them for the sealings! He was soooo excited to share that day with them.

[Lillie]

Our missionaries have both said they wanted to be there when we go to the Temple also so when the time comes we will be inviting them.

[dahlia]

Dahlia, I did ask this missionary for his home address so we could keep in contact and I had already planned on writing his mother. So I would just ask...lol

They gave me their email addresses and now were FB friends but in this day of high technology, it didn't occur to me to ask for physical addresses. That might be a novel approach.