Simon Begins a Mission!

October 29, 2021

by saradwells in Family, Simon Mission Post Comment

Simon decided when he was 10 that he was interested in serving a mission for our church. The last eight years have been spent thinking and planning to that end. He decided last December a few months before he turned 18 that yes, he definitely wanted to do this and so we submitted all of his papers/application at the end of April. On May 11 he received his mission call – NAIROBI KENYA MISSION!

*The day Simon opened his mission call…on my ipad 🙂*

Seriously one of the coolest days of my life was watching him open that mission call. You can read a little more about that day in this post.

*About a week before Simon left for the MTC he received his missionary tags and all of his “in the field” paperwork. It was an amazing moment as a mom to hold his brand new missionary tags.*

His report date was September 13 for training so the time between mid-May and early September has been spent getting necessary vaccines, med work accomplished, shopping done for the right clothes for Kenya, pulling together literally everything you can think of to send a kid to the other side of the world for two years. It was a lot of work, especially the fine print paperwork/medical stuff that needed to be accomplished (I handled all of that).

Over the 9/11 weekend we gathered many of our dearest friends (who were able to travel) and sent him off on his mission. He spent three weeks doing a combination of home MTC and in-person MTC in Provo. He was then temporarily reassigned to serve in the Manchester New Hampshire New England Mission while his Kenyan visa and work permit are processed. He loves where he is living and serving right now and is excited to see what good he can do there and eventually what good he can do in Kenya. Our missionary farewell weekend was filled with tremendous highs (getting him set apart as a missionary was the highlight) and of course lots of tears as we said goodbye. Here are some photos from that weekend.

*Our dear friends Kelly, Megan and Craig, Janette and Bryan (and their kids) all made the trip to be with us for this special weekend*

*Simon and Sariah. Always together, frequently being ridiculous and laughing a lot.*

On the Saturday before the farewell our wonderful friend Kelly and her daughter Halle came up from So. Cal, Megan and Craig from Fairfield and Janette and Bryan and three of their kids came out from Idaho to be with us. It was THE BEST to have a crazy house full of some of our favorite people. We stayed up way too late. Honestly, I was a ball of nerves about the whole next day (I was scheduled to both sing AND speak in church PLUS my baby boy was leaving so…hard to sleep).

On Sunday morning Simon and I went on a short walk around 6:30 AM. I knew this was the last time that I would have time just the two of us for awhile. We walked and talked, but not about anything important. I just told him that I loved him and was proud of him and reminded him that although the day was about to get crazy it was all good stuff. Then we got everyone in the house dressed for church, said a family prayer with everyone and headed out to the church for Simon to get set apart as a full time missionary. I had never been to a missionary setting apart before and it was extremely emotional in the BEST way. Overwhelming! Lots of happy (and some sad) tears flowing in that room as he was blessed and afterwards when he put his missionary tag on for the first time, I swear he even looked different.

*Right after being set apart as a new missionary!*

*The group of us there for Simon’s setting apart*

*I have lost track of how many photos I have of Bryan putting Simon in a headlock over the past eight years…*

Right after the setting apart we all went over to the other church building for sacrament meeting. We had quite a few friends who made the trip up from Fairfield and Vacaville to spend the day with us and say goodbye to Simon. It was like a little slice of heaven to look out over the congregation that morning and see so many pieces of our lives come together in one room, people from our NYC days to our Fairfield days to our new lives in Auburn all in one place to celebrate Simon. Our talks went really well and the song went perfectly. This was especially noteworthy because we had exactly one practice session the night before the farewell; all three of us live in different places! I love singing with Craig and with Janette on the piano – that’s another slice of heaven.

Simon’s mission plaque which hangs in our church building.

Once we finished at church we all headed back to our house for some food and visiting.

*Simon grew up with Hunter and Jason and they have been the best!*

*Last family photo of all six of us for two years*

And suddenly it was time to go. It was time to take Simon to the airport and say goodbye to him for the last time for two years. Sam went to Utah with him since he was doing home MTC at Sams moms house but for me, Sophie, Sadie and Seb this was it for two years.

*Last walk as a family of six for awhile*

*These two have been raised like twins and are very close. They both had big smiles for each other as they said goodbye.*

And then Elder Stubbert and Sam went through security and that was it. I was surprised at how my emotions got the better of me after I saw Simon walk away. I honestly couldn’t stop crying for about ten minutes. Seb was crying too but at one point he patted my back and told me “Mom, I know this is hard but it’s time to stop the waterworks”. Word. Fair point. I piled the rest of us back in the car and drove to IHOP and we scarfed down every single thing on the table. It had been a long and emotional day with zero downtime and we were starving.

Sam and Simon stayed with Grandma Stubbert for the ten days that Simon did Home Missionary Training Center. It was a GREAT experience for Lorna to have her home be the site of part of Simon’s training and awesome for Sam to spend some one on one time with Simon. Sam sent me photos every day of what Simon was up to and I was lucky to be able to talk to him almost each day. It was THE BEST.

*Simon has used this desk in grandma’s basement for years to play video games; now he was using it to learn to be a missionary!*

*Sam surprised Simon with dinner with some of his favorite guys and de facto big brothers: Thomas, Kyle and Smiles. Just like old times 🙂*

*I love this photo of Simon after a full meal of sushi. This is actually the screen saver on Sam’s phone right now.*

*Uncle Peter and Aunt Lisa at Grandma’s house.*

On September 22 it was time for Simon to go into the Provo MTC. He and Sam and Grandma packed him up, stopped by the Packers house for one last time (his cousin Ryan had just given his mission farewell talk a few days before) and then it was dropoff time in Provo.

*What a cool experience for Lorna: two missionary grandsons on either side of her.*

*Simon’s second home his whole life has been here at Grandma’s house. It was so special that he was able to do part of his MTC here with her.*

When you drop off a missionary at the Provo MTC it is just that – a drop off. Sam pulled the car down into a parking garage where lots of missionaries and helpers were directing incoming missionaries. They got his bags out of the trunk, said a quick goodbye and that was it! Elder Stubbert was off!

Simon spent two weeks in the Provo MTC. He loved his district, went to the temple twice, got sick (and got better) and had some awesome experiences preparing to go serve a mission.

While he was there he was temporarily reassigned to the Manchester New Hampshire mission covering Maine, Vermont, Massachuttes and Vermont. Fall in New England? Sounds PERFECT! On October 6th Elder Stubbert landed in Manchester New Hampshire, met his mission president for the first time and then headed to Newport, Maine where he is currently serving.

*After about 24 hours of traveling Simon and his group made it to New Hampshire.*

*Elder Stubbert on a service project somewhere in Maine.*

This reassignment is in place until his visa and work permit for Kenya are processed and granted. He could be in New England for two months, for six months, for a year? We have no idea. Covid rules a lot of what happens right now with international missions and visas. The good news is that Kenya has been opening up and allowing missionaries back in. Simon LOVES being in New England right now and we are loving the opportunity we have to chat with him once a week when he has a personal day. He tries to Face-time thru Facebook messenger when the most of us will be at home. Our hearts are full and we are so happy for him to have the experiences he is having. He is happy and healthy and engaged in the work. What more could you want for your kid?!

Simon posts regularly about what he is up to in the mission field on Facebook. If you would like to follow along please click here for his profile. We can’t wait to see what his time in New England is like and continue to pray that he will make it to Kenya when the time is right. Great job, Elder Stubbert. We are so proud of you.