The picture above is not a package I put together ... not even close. This is one of the many pictures that pops up on pinterest if you search for LDS missionary care packages. In fact, I would say that this is not even that bad of an example of the type of packages that some Mormon moms out there are sending to their missionaries. Just take a look when you get the chance and you will see a smorgasbord of creative ideas for ways to wow your missionary with your gift sending skills.
They drive me CRAZY.
So. So. Crazy.
I get the motivation to want your child to feel your love. Because LDS missionaries don't call home regularly (only on Christmas and Mother's Day), we don't get to have that constant communication that we crave. We know that our young men and women are out serving the Lord, and often that service is HARD. We know that our sons and daughters get tired and lonely and discouraged. We want to bring them a touch of joy. I totally get that.
Bur, really, why do we feel this need to be so over the top with our packages? Why? Who are we trying to impress here? I'd guess, based on my limited pinterest research, that a lot of these moms put these packages together because they are either trying to impress the other missionary moms out there or because they are worried that if they just send their child a bunch of goodies in a plain brown cardboard box without fancy wrapping paper or cute little sayings or something like that, then our poor children are going to be laughed out of the mission office by all the other missionaries who see just how lame we are as moms. Will our child really know that we love them if he doesn't get the same level of creativity thrown into his package as his companion gets?
I love to look online to get ideas because sometimes it's hard to know exactly what to get them. I do want to be a little creative in what I send because I want to bring some extra joy and fun to my missionary. But I still want it to be clear that I put the package together, and if Spencer opened a box with some of these forms of mom madness stuck together I'm sure he would wonder who had sent him that package and what they had done with his real mother.
Today I sent Spencer a package to Poland. I figure it will get there right around the half-way point in his mission. Actually it won't quite be half-way because the missionaries in Poland actually stay 25 months for some reason, so he'll have a bit longer of a mission than normal, but still, it'll be after his one year mark. Like I did with his sisters, Laney and Savannah, I included a stuffed camel doll for him to half in honor of that milestone. But other than that, his package was full of a bunch of fairly average things. There isn't a lot of fanciness included in the box, but I hope he'll feel the love involved in the sending of it.
I was a lot better sending packages to Laney and Savannah. I made an effort to try and send Laney something once a month. It was a little expensive to send things to Chile, but not too terrible. I did a pretty good job. It was a piece of cake to send things to Savannah because she was in the United States. Hallelujah! It didn't cost too much, and I could always track the packages to make sure they got there. The biggest fear I had with her packages was that someone would grab them off the porch while she was away from home. Luckily, that never happened.
With Spencer, things have been A LOT more complicated. I think that customs stuff in Europe is more rigorous than they were in Chile, and that has been a pain for me. I sent him a small package early in his time in Poland. I sent it through the US postal system. It got there just fine, but I couldn't track the package, and it cost a fortune to send it. The real problems began when I sent him his Christmas package. This time I used a service called ParcelMonkey that was way cheaper than the post office. They put together bulk shipping through several carriers and find better rates. Plus, I'm able to track the packages all the way to Poland. The problem with Spencer's Christmas package was that I sent a big box and waited a bit too late to send it. That limited the carriers who could send it cheaply, and I picked a more obscure shipper. They did a terrible job of sending it. The package got stuck in Polish customs because they thought it was a business package, and they wanted me to fill out all sorts of forms and pay all sorts of fees. They sent all their requests to Spencer at first, but he didn't have time to deal with it. I tried to get the mission office to help, but they couldn't figure out exactly what the customs people needed to get. I finally got the customs people to send me the info, but it was all in Polish. We happen to have a friend who is a native Polish speaker, but she couldn't make heads or tails of it. She said she had never been asked to fill out these forms when she sent things home. So frustrating!!!
Well, Christmas came and went, and Spencer's package was still stuck in customs. I was about ready to throw in the towel and just forget about it. But I decided to try one last time. I asked all the moms in my Polish missionary mom group to say an extra prayer for this package to make it to Spencer. They did. In the middle of that week I got a message from the Polish customs lady who was working with me. She promised me that they didn't want to keep this package from Spencer. They wanted to help him get it. For some weird reason, that calmed me down, and I was able to figure out exactly what I needed to do. It ended up costing us an extra $80. I have no idea why, but at least it got to him, and Spencer was able to celebrate Christmas at the end of January.
That Christmas package debacle made me gun shy when it came to sending packages to Spencer, so I've done a terrible job of being consistent in the things I've sent. I hope he'll still love me. 🤣 Even though it will take several weeks to make it to Poland, I hope it gets there in time to bring him a bit of joy. I'll never be that cool missionary mom who sends the perfect gift box to my missionaries. You won't find me on a pinterest board any time soon, but I'm glad for the opportunity to send something their way. I'm super proud of my missionaries and their willingness to serve, despite hardship. It's hard to believe that Spencer is almost half-way done. It's crazy how time goes so slow and yet flies by at the same time. At the rate I'm going I'll get to send him another half dozen packages or so. I'll be an international shipping genius by then, I'm sure.
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