Message from Tracie:
Adam, Bryce, and I drove up to Utah on March 19th (Bryce’s Spring Break) to visit Brooke for the week and to be present while she received her Patriarchal Blessing the afternoon of Sunday the 21st. While we were staying with friends in South Jordon we received a phone call late Sunday evening from President Thurston, Whitney's Mission President.
Obviously my immediate thought was that this could not be good. He asked to speak with both Adam and I at the same time, so I put my cell phone on speaker and waited for him to begin in anticipation of what he was going to say. Well, it was just as I expected. Whitney’s knees had been giving her problems again, for about a week now, and she had already seen a surgeon in TX a few days earlier (the same surgeon who had performed knee surgery on Pres Thurston in January).
This surgeon said that Whit needed both knees scoped to see what’s causing the pain. He was wanting to do the surgery himself, both knees at the same time, the following Wednesday. President agreed and asked me if I were willing to fly to TX to stay with Whit while she has the surgery, I said yes, but we had to get authorization from Salt Lake first. Pres called SL and spoke with a General Authority the next day, but the GA said that Whit was to go home for the surgery where post operative care was more feasible, and then could return to TX when recovered. Problem is, here the doctors will only work on one knee at a time making recovery process twice as long. Being that Whit has already extended her mission by 5 mo's the first time she was sent home from Guatemala, I know she won't be willing to go back out again. It would extend her 18 mo mission to 2 1/2 to 3 years.
Whitney prayed about it before we were contacted on Sunday and she got the same confirmation that Pres Thurston received; that she is meant to be at home. And when Whitney and her two companions baptized Claudia on Saturday the evening before, she received a confirmation from the Holy Ghost that she was sent to TX to baptize Claudia, and now that she‘s baptized, her mission is complete. Whitney was able to be instrumental in bringing the gospel teachings and baptism into the Lords church to many people in both Guatemala and in Texas, and many more seeds planted for future full-time and member missionaries to reap. We know that the Lord is pleased with her accomplishments.
Whitney is at total peace with the circumstances and is ready to move on with her life. I think that if anyone is having a hard time with it, I am. And “hard” really isn’t the right word to describe how I’m feeling, because I too knew almost immediately that it’s what the Lord wants; as I felt peace in my heart and mind during our conversation with President Thurston. I guess it’s just that I loved all the wonderful experiences that Whit was having, and as a return missionary myself, I too wanted her to have a full year and a half of those great experiences as well. I have to accept that six months is what the Lord wants for her...She has!
Each of us here in the Robbins home have felt so much love and support from all our family, ward members, and friends this past year. All your letters and packages to Whitney while she was on her mission was always a source of encouragement for her; a vital element that every missionary needs while providing so great a sacrifice for the Lord. And for all of you who would inquire with us of how Whitney was doing; we felt the love and support from you each and every time making it easier for us to be apart from her…. For all of this we are truly grateful to each of you.
We'll do our best to keep an update on her mission blog of her knee progress so you can check it out on occasion to see what's going on from time to time. For now, Whit is looking forward to getting all the medical stuff out of the way so that she can move on with life; work, school, and love.
Tracie
