The Preliminaries and Getting Started

I officially retired as Dean of the College of Business Administration at the Gulf University for Science and Technology on June 12, 2014.  We returned to Kuwait on a consulting assignment to finish up the AACSB accreditation and returned to the US on October 18, Bonnie's birthday.

Within a couple of weeks, we started the processing for a mission call.  We spoke with the Bishop who initiated the process and we began a frustrating three-month process of getting all of the medical tests required these days of folks who wish to serve in international assignments.  After five years of organized, customer-centered healthcare in Kuwait, the US system was a shock.  Despite the fact that neither of us have serious health issues, we had to go through colonoscopies, treadmill stress tests, MRIs, vision tests, etc.  Fortunately we passed everything with flying colors.  All of these tests also created complications with the FAA when I went to renew my aviation medical exam in January.  The FAA requires that I report all tests and physician visits during the previous year and then they wanted to see all of the test results.

We started talking about serving a senior mission on our second date and that was almost 44 years ago.  Now the time is almost upon us.  Preparation for this mission has influenced our desire to maintain our language and our financial preparations.

We also had new pictures taken since it had been a few years since we had a formal couples portrait taken.  We thought this picture from our second year of marriage might be a little dated.

It's hard to believe that we have been married for more than 43 years.  This is the one we submitted with our papers:

We then had a lovely visit with our Stake President, Steve Bangerter.  He suggested that we needed to call the mission president in the Belgium/Netherlands mission to see if he would request us.  We did and discovered that he was overstaffed with senior missionaries and had to make a special request through the Area President.  He did this and we were waiting to see what would happen.  Meanwhile, our friends in South Africa, John and Roberta Clayton started working on a potential assignment as Associate Area Counsel (legal department).  We discovered that they had two openings, one as soon as April.  They also put a request through for us.  I guess they expect seniors to be a bit more proactive in seeking assignments and we had just thought that you put in your papers and wait to be assigned.

Finally, in early January, our application was released for processing.  We were hoping to receive our call before we left for a month in Hawaii on January 30.  After a couple of frustrating weeks, we phoned the missionary department and discovered that the call had been issued the previous week and should arrive shortly.  We left for Hawaii without our call, but asked our dear friends and neighbors, Warren and Marilyn Hickman to check our mail and forward the call to us.  On Saturday, January 31, Warren telephoned and reported that the magic envelopes had arrived.  After a brief conversation, we decided to have Warren and Marilyn open the calls.  As Marilyn read our call letter, she choked up because she had never opened a mission call before.  Of course, we were thrilled to hear of our assignment to the Belgium/Netherlands mission.  Bonnie was jumping for joy.

We were also waiting anxiously for the travel instructions since we knew there were going to be visa issues.  These arrived about a week later, and Warren scanned the critical pages and emailed them to us.  This allowed us to begin the processing while we were still on Kauai.  The next day, we drove down to Lihue to the police station to get our fingerprints taken and have pictures taken for our visas.  Since I didn't have a jacket, we tried WalMart and Macy's to try and find one.  Macy's had one, but it fit horribly and was a weird style.  We purchased it, took it to the nearby Costco's for the visa pictures and returned it, since I couldn't stand to wear it.  Bonnie snapped this lovely photo before our Costco session.

We went to the post office to express mail our fingerprint cards to the FBI for processing.  Unfortunately, the Postal Service took a week to deliver the applications that were supposed to be delivered in two days.  We also began the process of getting birth certificates and marriage certificates that could then be mailed to obtain an international apostille.  This all proved to be more complicated than we had expected.

1. The State of Wyoming (where Bonnie was born) has decided that people should only need five copies of their birth certificates throughout their life.  I guess they never heard of foreign visa requirements and Bonnie had to give up one of hers to the Netherlands during her first mission and another when we went to Kuwait.  She had to send a notarized form back to get additional copies.
2. The State of Utah never sent my birth certificates, despite the confirmed on-line order.  Our daughter, Alicia saved the day by physically going to the Salt Lake County Health Department and picking up two copies and then running them up to the Lt. Governor's office to get the apostille.  We had to pay $80 to get the apostilles sent back the next day.  Wyoming charges $3.
3. Utah County came through with our marriage license in record time and for only $5 per copy.  Unfortunately, the Lt. Governor's office returned them without the apostille the first time and I had to pay another $80 expediting fee to get them the second time, plus $40 for express mail both ways.

Moral of the story, it is a good idea to have the certificates on hand before putting in the mission papers.  I would also recommend the FBI fingerprinting process if you plan on serving a foreign mission.  Right now the FBI is reporting that it takes 12-14 weeks to get the report back.  I'm guessing that we will have to do it again and use an expedited service.

Meanwhile, we also started our foreign language tutoring through the Mission Training Center (MTC).  We were assigned a recently returned Dutch missionary for once a week tutoring.  We also have a weekly meeting with a learning coach and native speaker.  These have been invaluable opportunities to tune up our language skills and prepare for missionary service.  Regardless of previous skill with the language, I really recommend that seniors take advantage of this service.  We are both reasonably fluent already, but this was very helpful.

About two weeks ago, the Belgium/Netherlands mission office sent a welcome letter from President Robinson.  President Robinson served during our era and has been very encouraging and helpful.  Unfortunately, the letter went to our son's home.  Of course he is also Lee Caldwell, but we suspect they used a form to indicate parents' address.  President Robinson also wrote a lovely email telling us that we will be assigned to Mechelen, Belgium and that we will be the first senior couple there in more than three years.  We had both been to Mechelen during our first mission and it is a beautiful town of about 85,000.  It is world famous for its carillon school.  It is about halfway between Antwerp and Brussels.  We are certainly looking forward to our assignment.