The Beginning. August 26, 2016

What a caterpillar thinks is the end of life, the butterfly knows it is just the beginning.
One of my favorite sayings.


Well, here we go -the beginning of the rest of my  (Linda's ) life.  It’s such a strange place to be.  Ted and I finished traveling on a ”bucket list” road trip for home in Pennsylvania, thanks to a gift from my sister and brother-in-law whom I have always adored. 

We have had a wondrous experience of serving as Public Affairs Missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,  a.k.a. Mormons, under the direction of a passionate and talented man who loves life and loves what he does and serving with a talented senior missionary that will be an eternal friend.   We all were so privileged to work together helping the world know more about our church and hopefully learn to love us. We also met so many people who loved giving their time for others; all the people involved with public affairs in the LDS church in LA and SLC, the many senior and young missionaries we grew to love and admire, and the many interfaith, government, and civic leaders. The world is full of goodness!

This blog is dedicated to all  those who have ALS, MS, or just anyone going through difficult life struggles.  It is dedicated to all those on our mission who have touched our lives, to our Ward in Doylestown, Pa., and the Philadelphia Stake who have been angels in our stake and ward choirs and were saints when we needed their love and tender care throughout the years. This blog is also dedicated to our priceless family that gives us such joy that extends across this great country. We will refer to them all  throughout this adventure of ours. 

We encourage everyone to contribute their love and support to this blog and pass this on to those who are going through similar life changes that are going to be challenging.

We decided jointly that this effort will be an extension of our mission. One based on our faith, on love, on gratitude, on appreciation, on forgiveness, and yes, acknowledgment of things  lost, but hopefully finding  replacements with things gained.

Many good stories have flashbacks, so we’ll go back to important places and people in our lives as well.  

How this began:

In the LDS Church, you tell your Bishop you would like to go on a mission once you pray about it and feel that that is what Heavenly Father wants you to do. We did, and we received our call to go to Los Angeles for 18 months. For those who do not know, all missionaries gladly pay their own way.

When we began our mission, May 2015, I (Linda) loved helping in any way and was kept busy  learning and assisting in a great program called JustServe.org. If you want to feel good check that site out and volunteer and watch miracles happen. Dear, dear friends were made as I worked beside them in this inspired initiative.

People kept telling me that I would adjust to the hours. I did not. I started getting more and more fatigued. I thought, I am 70, it is just due to my age. In December I noticed my right hand started to shake a little while leading a choir of fun loving, spiritual, and joyous young sister missionaries in their Christmas Program at the Visitors Center at the Los Angeles Temple. I was also having undue pain in my back. I went to the doctor when I lost strength in my right hand. The doctor thought it could be a pinched nerve so I had an MRI and a brain  scan. Nothing showed on the MRI or the scan. I then had a complete blood workup done. When we went to see the doctor he said the blood work showed nothing.  I told him I was losing more strength in my hand. The doctor took my hand and looked at my arm. He noticed the twitching up and down my arm and I told him I was getting those twitches throughout my body. (Those twitches are called fasciculations.) He said he was so sorry to tell us, but that I needed to go to an ALS clinic for further assistance. He had a tear in his eye and gave me a hug. That was July 13, 2016. (It is now August 26, and I have lost  the use of my right hand and my right arm is extremely week. I am starting to stumble a bit, and my legs are weak. The good news is that there is no pain as of yet. I am just super tired.

Yes, it was a total surprise. It was a complete shock and many tears came, especially talking to our family. We googled personal ALS blogs and found that this will be especially hard for my dear husband and our family. So after lots of thought, and prayers we decided to make this an adventure that has a purpose, and is full of love for our Savior Jesus Christ who will be there to sustain us all, if we let him, as we go through difficult times in  our lives.