My oldest son received his mission call to serve for my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He will be serving in the Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada mission. He starts his two year journey in April.

My oldest daughter went on a mission, but she was out of state when she did all her prep work, and she paid for everything herself. Consequently, we didn’t realize just how many steps there are and how much some of those steps cost, just to be authorized to go.

There are doctor visits, dental visits, sometimes follow up visits. And then there is all the gear that is necessary for them personally to have. This is what we worked on on Saturday.

My son wanted to get as much of the shopping done in one day as possible because he really dislikes shopping, so why drag it out. My daughter who served a mission went with us, and we went in to Anchorage. She also has much more fashion sense than either me or my son have, so it was good to have her along.

We started off strong at the Church’s distribution center where we were able to get a lot of the small stuff and most of the white button up shirts he needed. We then started around Anchorage trying to find 2 suits, several more pairs of slacks, shoes, and miscellaneous items like belts, toiletry bag, etc.

Everywhere we went either had nothing in his size, or was so expensive I wondered how we would ever afford more than one whole suit. I was getting discouraged, but praying silently to find a better price. As we were getting ready to head out of Anchorage, my daughter suddenly remembered a store she had been in on one other occasion back in high school, that she thought we might try.

We went to Nordstrom’s Rack. They had exactly what we were looking for. We ended up being able to get 2 suits, extra slacks, more shirts, belt, bag, etc. All for $200 less than the 2 suits would have cost at the only other place we found anything that would fit.

I believe that these missionaries are called of God to preach His word and help His children. Because of that, I believe that He helps them as they try to be obedient and prepare to serve. I was so grateful yesterday for the Lord’s help, and grateful to get so much done within my budget in one day!