My Amazing Mother.

I'm so proud of my parents and privileged to watch their many acts of service for our Heavenly Father and His children as I grew up. Now serving as missionaries in PNG my father has written a chapter on my mothers incredible faith. 

T.

“I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord”

 

At the May 2001 General Conference, Elder Hales spoke on the topic “Couple Missionaries: A Time to Serve” and he said the following: “Where much is given, much is expected. You have received much in your life; go forth and freely give in the service of our Lord and Saviour. Have faith; the Lord knows where you are needed. The need is so great, brothers and sisters and the labourers are so few.”

As he spoke these words, Theone turned to her husband, Rob, and said: “He is speaking about us. We need to start planning when, where and how we might serve a mission or two as senior couples. We need to be young and healthy enough to do whatever the Lord requires of us.” Over the next few months they looked at the issues that Elder Hales had raised: fear, family concerns, finances, and the right missionary opportunity. In each of these categories it was easy to find reasons why they should delay their mission. Both had very elderly parents, a daughter that suffers from MS, very young grandchildren, a major reduction in their finances upon retiring, etc.

Eventually they realised that many of this issues could not be changed so they decided to put their trust in the Lord and set a date. They decided that they would retire when Rob turned 60 nearly 4 years after being prompted during Elder Hales talk. With this date set, they then began to plan for their mission and work out how to manage the issues that they had identified as potential barriers to serving as missionaries.  As they look back now, undertaking this planning well before they were ready to submit their papers was one of the most important decisions that they made. Without this preparation they may never have been ready.  They decided to spend the first 12 months after retiring to get their affairs in order and to put in place solutions to some of the major issues.

Finally, they submitted their papers stating that they would prefer to serve in the Church Education area. They thought that this would be the most suitable area due to Rob’s background in academia.

As Rob was driving around town Theone rang him and said that their call had come and she would open it when he returned. Rob told her to open it and read it over the phone, knowing that Theone’s curiosity, excitement and anxiety were killing her. After a pause that seemed like eternity she said: “I have bad news and bad news. The call is for Public affairs which you said you definitely did not want to do and the call is to India and you said that you were never going back to India after you took seriously ill on your last visit there.”  Rob replied: “I appreciate Heavenly Father’s sense of humour but we said we would go where the Lord wants us so we are going to India.”

However, one aspect that Elder Hales forgot to mention in his talk was the need for patience. This being their first mission they did not understand that obtaining a visa for an 18 month period can often take quite some time. Applications for a visa were quickly sent off and each day Theone eagerly checked the mail. It was somewhat like when their son was serving his mission and Theone would wait each Wednesday for a letter from her son. The family quickly learnt not to joke with her if the letter did not arrive. After 9 months of waiting, and after monthly reassurances from the Indian Embassy that the visas were coming, Rob used his contacts from his University days to have somebody in India find out what was happening. The report came back that their application was still at the bottom of the pile, so the Area Presidency reassigned them to Thailand to serve as Humanitarian missionaries.

Theone and Rob thoroughly enjoyed their mission, with many great successes including the opportunity to work with the Palace. However, as their mission progressed they faced a number of challenges. Firstly, Theone’s  mother who was in excellent health when they left for their mission suddenly took ill and passed away at the age of 93. Theone had to rush back home for the funeral and settle her mother’s affairs. When Theone started her mission she had a minor problem with pains in her legs but as the mission progressed this became acute. By the end of her mission she could not walk very far, had to use a cane and often had to take strong pain killers.

Upon returning home she sort medical advice and after being referred to a number of specialists it was found that she had a degenerative spinal condition due to osteoarthritis where her nerves were being squeezed. They also found at the same time that she had severe osteoarthritis in her knees.  The treatment required steroid injections in her spine every 3 to 6 months and this dramatically reduced her pain.

After being home for about 9 months an Area Authority and personal friend, Elder Smibert,  asked to see them. They conjectured as to what he wanted to talk to them about and decided that they couldn’t serve a mission at this time as Theone needed regular spinal injections and knee replacements, and Rob also needed an operation on his ankle for osteoarthritis.  Elder Smibert began his visit with the usual small talk and Rob kept thinking: “Just skip this and get to the real reason you are here.” Finally He said: “We have been talking in the Area Presidency about the need for senior couple missionaries.” Rob looked at Theone and raised his eyebrows.  He continued: “We believe that you would be excellent in Papua New Guinea and would like to have you go up there on assignment for 2 to 3 months at a time”.  Rob smiled knowing that Theone had said that one of the places she would not go to on their next mission was PNG and waited for her reply.  Theone said: “Dirk, I said that I would not go to PNG as well as some other countries, but as you spoke to us I had this strong feeling come over me, as Heavenly Father bore witness, that this is what we should do. With the opportunity to return home every 3 months or so, I can keep up with my injections and manage to do the work.” Rob sat in stunned silence and could only think of his concerns about taking his wife to a country that had many challenges for fit young people let alone a senior couple with some health issues. 

Elder Smibert took their response back to the Area Presidency and soon got back to Theone and Rob that the missionary department would prefer that they go as full time missionaries rather than on assignment. They replied that this would be agreeable provided they could return every 3 months to Australia for medical treatment. This was agreed to, subject to them covering the return airfares during their mission. Although this increased the cost of their mission considerably and stretch their retirement finance, Theone could not back away from or deny the witness that she had had.

They once again submitted their application for a visa and again this dragged out to over 3 months. Just when it looked like their visas would come through Theone became quite ill and began to rapidly lose weight. She was diagnosed with bowel cancer and immediately admitted to hospital for surgery. Prior to entering hospital she asked our close friend, the Stake Patriarch to assist in an administration.  She said to him: “I would like you to do the blessing because Rob will get too emotional and I want to clearly hear what the Lord has in store for me.”  During the blessing she was promised that she would recover and fulfil her mission to PNG.

After the operation the specialist sat with them and told them that he had some good news and bad news. The bad news was that the cancer had escaped the bowel and attached itself to the abdomen. The good news was that it appeared to be still encapsulated and that they probably had removed all of it. He also said that it would not be possible to go on a mission to PNG as Theone would need chemotherapy. After the specialist left the room Theone said to Rob: “He is wrong. I have been blessed to recover and we will be in PNG in 12 months time.”

As short time later the specialist confirmed Theone’s comments and within 12 months they headed off to PNG as Humanitarian and Public affairs missionaries. They deferred their operations and went to serve the Lord with Rob limping due to the osteoarthritis in his ankle and Theone struggling to walk due to the problems in her knees and back.  Although in constant pain, Theone continued to serve diligently. As her mission progressed she found it nearly impossible to climb stairs, at times her  knees would lock up and she couldn’t move. Each time she visited her specialists they would tell her that she should not wait any longer for her knee replacement as she had bone rubbing against bone but Theone knew that her Heavenly Father would support her until the she completed her mission. When asked why she continued she would just smile and say: “Our family has obtained and continues to obtain incredible blessings through our service. Isn’t that reason enough to serve as a couple missionary.”

A month after Theone finishes her mission she will undergo the first of her total knee replacements. When asked if she will serve another mission her answer is: “I have learnt that it is not wise to say that I will never do something such as never serve another mission. I will just have to wait and see.”

Rob Snow