I think it is a miracle, but I also believe they happen every day. “Miracle” and “rare” are two words that don’t belong together. Cheiko Okazaki talked all the time about “sparrow prayers”—tiny prayers she said when she was looking for her keys, or a parking space, etc. I can’t remember who said it, but whoever said we shouldn’t pray about every little thing did people a disservice. God cares and there’s a butterfly effect to everything. You going to give us a picture of the grandbaby??

My wife (stateside/foreign) believes that there may have been another sister who was supposed to arrive on her original departure date. She may have canceled so they extended her to meet the *next* sister.

(In other words, if they are now extending her just to bridge the gap … what caused the gap?)

Not sure what you are talking about when you say “are you telling me that is not true?”

But I do remember a couple of elders from my mission who went home honorable a month early. I think it was based on college start dates.

I also don’t think “Arbitrary” is the word you were looking for.

It is quite common for missionaries to have flexible release dates at the mission president’s discretion (usually for school start dates).

As I recall, there is a maximum amount of days either before or after your two year mark where you can go home. I was given a choice by my mission president, so I assume that is the case with most missionaries. However, I think some of the leeway is for foreign serving missionaries who have a limited time for their visas and have to leave the country by a specific date.

I came home about three weeks shy of the 24 months. I entered the MTC in late August (late July birthday) and had to get home if I was gonna get into school. It was no problem. Just talked to the MP about it and he agreed. Better to get home a couple weeks early and get a full fall term in than serve the extra weeks and then sit on my hands at home until the next semester started.

I think there are two kinds of miracles. The kinds where we just assign credit where it’s due and where something miraculous occurs like the parting of the red sea.

Assigning credit and labeling something a miracle because we recognize it for the unexpected or hoped for blessing that it brings to our lives is no less noteworthy in my opinion. An individual saved by the part of the red sea is no less saved by ahead on collision and walking away from it. I suppose it’s the mass miracle that happens all at once and is experienced the same for everyone that we want to truly label miraculous.

In this story, at the very least it’s a blessing, if not a miracle. I suppose the question is do we have the faith to see something as a blessing if it doesn’t turn out how we want? Let’s say she came home one month early. I think there could actually be much gained from that experience as well if we rise to the level of seeing the best in a low occasion.

Thanks for sharing the great story of a needed blessing though.

#13 Chris- If our daughter came home a month early, her Dad or I would surely have a heart attack from the stress of the unfinished Basement From Hell Project. The blessing would be the remaining spouse could cash in the life insurance policy and have the money to hire a professional to finish the job.
Thanks for helping me see the rainbow in the dark clouds of home rehabbing.

#16 – RJohn – you make an excellent point. Wanna come help reroute plumbing pipes? I bet Heavenly Father would give you extra points in heaven. You could get an upgrade on your eternal accommodations.

In our so far limited experience with this process, we were told the “Brethren” try to accommodate a missonary’s timing request by manipulating one or both ends of a mission. They did so for our son and it’s been a real treat b/c of deferrred acceptance and scholarship at our son’s school of choice. Our son started his mission in August, about 2 months shy of his 19th birthday to accommodate his college schedule. I hope he comes home a month early so we will have a bit more time before he heads off to school on the left coast, but that will ultimately be his decision. Serving 24 or 23 months will put him home 2-3 months shy of his 21st birthday. I suppose there are times when the Church goes the other way and asks a missionary to extend to accommodate a Church need.

Thank you for the clarity, queuno. I was beginning to wonder if there was any limits to the customizing of mission schedules. Here I was, dumb enough to think 18 months/2 year missions mean just that. No more, no less.

My understanding from my stateside, English speaking mission (got home in 2008)was that very few sisters ever served exactly 18 months. At least in our mission, the 18 month mark fell smack dab in the middle of a transfer. So you either went home at the start of that transfer or you “extended” the three weeks and went home at the end of it. This may get even more complicated if there are language speaking missionaries involved. We didn’t have any language speaking sisters in our mission (there just weren’t enough of us), but we did have several foreign sisters who ended up staying in the MTC longer than expected for various visa, medical, language reasons. I can easily see a Mission President asking a sister to extend when they hadn’t initially planned to in order to meet an incoming sister, particularly if there are a small number of sisters in the mission (we had 8-14 sisters in our mission versus 150 or so Elders, so there was much more potential flexibility with incoming, outgoing Elders than sisters).

On occasion in our mission there were also some mid-transfer departures. One of our AP’s ended up getting a very prestigious internship in Washington DC that started earlier than anticipated so he and another missionary went home halfway through a transfer with an honorable release. Or, there were cases like mine, where I broke my leg and needed surgery a transfer (and some odd days) before I was supposed to go home. Rather than do it in the field (where I would be useless and my companion would be stuck inside and I’d have to wait a certain amount of time afterward before I could fly) they sent me home right away so I could have surgery. I did try to get them to let me stay for the last few days of the transfer so I could have a proper departure, but they had a special sister’s departure meeting for me instead. That may have had to do with the fact that it was the second (and final) time I had to go home on medical, but that’s another story.

In short, it’s not that unheard of for your daughter’s departure time to change (because of the various medical adventures in the last six months of my mission my return date changed at least three times. I’m sure the missionary travel department *loved* me) but I see it as one of the Lord’s tender mercies. Like when I can find decent on street parking after getting home in the dark and cold from working a shift at the temple.