A New Adventure Awaits

Let me begin with a story.

As a little girl I loved singing time in primary. It was my most favorite part of church. I most definitely couldn't carry a tune (and still can't really) but I loved to sing. One particular Sunday we sang, "I hope they call me on a mission". Halfway through the song I stopped singing, thinking to myself, "Why am I singing this song? It's just for the boys!" Because they had made the girls sing this song with the boys I hastily decided I was going on a mission. Someone told me: "girls don't go on missions; girls stay home and get married." At first I was mad. As mad as my 11 year old self could be. After I few minutes of contemplating my these words, I came up with something along the lines of, "Well, if that's what I'm supposed to do and if that's what the Lord wants me to do, then I'll do it, it's what I want too."

The possibility of serving a mission didn't cross my mind again until my freshman year of college. My roommate and good friend told me she was planning on a mission. I thought, "yeah right! You're 18 now and you'll probably be married before you even get a chance to think about sending your papers in." I was dead wrong. Court did go on a mission. She served in the Indianapolis Indiana Mission (same as my Dad). During her absence we wrote letters back and forth. Her letters to me were usually far more detailed than mine to her. During this time, the new Preach My Gospel came out. My Dad bought a copy for each of us kids. I studied mine while tossing back and forth the idea of maybe going, after all, Court did it. She came home and we roomed again another year and thank goodness! She was such a strength to me that year. Between dating and wisdom teeth and work and school and everything else you can think of, she was there, solid and steady. She would tell me stories of her mission and I could see how much it had blessed her! I loved her stories...the people, the companions, etc. It was great.

Last January I was sitting in Sacrament meeting thinking, "What am I going to do now? The thought of serving a mission had intensified. I graduate in 4 months, I only have a summer job lined up, dating was shot, what am I going to do? My thoughts continued randomly jumping from one to another until I was interrupted by, "if you're going to go, now is the time." These words were so crisp and clear in my mind it was as if someone else had spoken them directly to me.

From there it's the same old story. I met with the bishop, got my papers going and sent in, received a call, applied for a passport, etc. So for the next few months, I'm just passing the time, enjoying every moment with my family and friends. September 30, 2009 I report to the MTC and approximately 2 weeks later fly out for the Melbourne Australia East Mission for the next 18 months.