Payoff in parenting

Avrams mission president flew in town for general conference and to have a mission reunion.  Avram is very close to his mission president so they have been planning the mission reunion for the past year.  The reunion was held in our stake center.  Avram had also invited President and Sister Johansen over to our house for dinner one night.  

Adam and I were both shocked that they came to the house to spend one of their vacation nights just with Avram and his family.  As we talked and compared stories we learned a lot about Avrams mission.  One of the most valuable traits a missionary could have in the eyes of President Johansen was TRUST. Since the mission was 1/3 of the country of Australia the mission president needed to trust the missionaries that he sent to the Northern Territories.  Avram was one of those missionaries.  

President Johansen told us how thankful he is for Avram.  He said that he didn't know what to do with a very disobedient elder in the mission.  He had paired him with both good and bad missionaries trying to see if he would step up to the task.  Sadly he corrupted missionaries that were on the fence and the good missionaries could stand him.  One of the missionaries (who president Johansen Loved) ended up putting a hole through a wall because he was so angry with this disobedient Elder.  President Johansen said it was time for transfers and he was still lost on what to do with this Elder.  He and his wife were looking at the board when they realized who would be the answer to their prayers.  AVRAM.  Avram was pulled from and area he Loved, and put in a challenging area with an even more challenging companion.  Avram really struggled at this time in his mission.  Each week we talked to him we tried to help him understand that his mission was to help this companion and to help President Johansen, even if it did hinder the "typical" missionary work.  Avram made it almost 5 months with this difficult companion.  President Johansen was so thankful for Avram and you could see he valued Avram so much.   

This night was an eye opening experience for all of us.  Typically the "good" missionaries are placed in leadership roles or they have tons of baptisms.  We learned that in president Johansen's eyes these thing while important were the most important thing.  He valued the trust.  During the mission reunion they had meeting in the chapel.  The APs sat on the stand and conducted the meeting.  When President Johansen got up the first thing he said was, "where is Elder Prestwich?"  Once he found Avram he said, "Elder Prestwich you need to come up here and sit on the stand with us."  

Avram had. few friends over the night of the dinner.  Elder Johansen is Tongan and Sister Johansen is Samoan so between the two of them they were able to make connections with Avrams friends.  It was a really special evening.  They were with us for several hours.  The next morning both Adam and I agreed that it was one of the best nights of our lives.