"The Promise of Eden"

On Monday Peter flies to SLC, Utah, to enter the MTC two days later. He has accepted his call to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tokyo, Japan; ready to serve the Lord, and to love the people of a country he has never been to. I have had four older brothers serve missions, and Peter will be the last. They're sent to Canada and Arizona and Brazil, and now Tokyo. And with every farewell, I feel the same sense of loss, and of love, and worry, and inspiration, and pride. These five men I know, all whom I love, were ready and willing to sacrifice two years in such a way that it isn't sacrifice. It is the right thing to do, to teach the gospel to people who have not yet had a chance to hear it, to grow and to learn to do hard things. But I miss them. When Peter leaves for the airport on Monday, I will cry. I guess I could try hard not to, but it's right to cry, I think. I will miss him. I love him and I will be worried about him halfway across the world. Peter is brilliant and amazing. He's my brother and I love him. He'll do good in the world, he'll love his mission, and he'll come home and continue on in his life and we'll all smile and laugh together again as a family. We'll finally get together and have our family picture taken with everyone in it. When he comes back, I'll be two years older. Two years of growing and pain and love and experiences that I'll write Peter about all along the way. And if he can make these sacrifices and do his duty, then will I be worthy to be a sister to such a person in two years? I want to be. I want to be ready when Peter comes back, to deserve to be the sister of such an amazing, bright, wonderful person. And I love him so much.