Alright folks, I am leaving tomorrow morning! The day has finally come and I am ready to go. It really has been a long wait, but it gave me time to get ready and prepare myself as best as I can. Like my brother-in-law said, "you're only ready and fully prepared to serve a mission when you're leaving your mission and coming home". I will do the best that I can, and I want to enjoy every minute of it, even when it gets really hard.
This opportunity to serve the Lord and teach his children will be so rewarding and I am excited to be a part of it. If my purpose of being on a mission is solely just to plant seeds, and I see no harvest then I will have planted seeds for someone else to harvest.
I will miss my family, and the time that I have spent with them before I leave has been great. And the friends that I have spent time with has been great. I will miss them, but hey I'm coming home right after! Time will fly and before I know it I will be home.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Monday, September 30, 2013
The Whole Story From the Beginning
I have wanted to serve an LDS mission for some time during my 22 years, especially in the last 3 years. I wondered when and if it was right for me to serve so I prayed about it. I felt like I kept getting the answer of if you want to go, go ahead, but I felt like it wasn't definite. So I listened to what leaders had told me, make a decision and Heavenly Father will let you know if it is right. I started to get really scared as I approached my 21st birthday and I made the decision not to go.
Instead of starting my papers I kept attending school till I got my associates. After that I kinda felt lost in what to do in life. I went to school at Southern Utah University for one year and that one school year helped me strengthen my testimony so much. I had to learn to rely on my Savior for help and strength. I learned so much in the institute classes with the help of the instructors, who by the way are incredible teachers and have such strong testimonies. I had also met incredible people who's testimonies also helped strengthen mine.
While I was at SUU, the October 2012 General Conference had a new announcement for the young prospective missionaries. The new age change didn't affect me because I was already 21 at that point, but it affected 2 of my roommates. As I watched them prepare and receive their calls, I really started to ask myself again if I wanted to serve. Serving a mission had been popping up so often in my head that I really needed to have a heartfelt prayer with my Heavenly Father and ask him sincerely.
I was really torn on what to do because I was having so much fun in Cedar City and I wanted to stay for summer and return to school in the fall. I knew that my dad was having shoulder surgery in the summer and I knew that my mom would need help with him and around the house. So as I was praying on whether I should go home for the summer or stay in Cedar, I was told to go home and help out. I told myself I would pray about serving a mission when I got home for the summer. When I told my mom that I was coming home she paused and looked at me and asked if it had anything to do with a mission? I told her that I wasn't 100% sure yet, but that I thought it could be that reason.
When I had moved home, I continued to pray, and I don't know if I listen to the spirit very well or what, but I still wasn't sure. So again I made a decision and this time it was to serve a mission. The next Sunday was fast Sunday, so I fasted to make sure that it was something that I wanted, and was willing to do. I am pretty sure that I had a confirmation within the first half hour of church. And just as church was over I ran into the bishop who was asking how life was. He asked if I was going back to school in the fall, and I said no. Then he asked if I was planning on doing something for 18 months, and I said yes. So the process was started.
I can say that I felt so confident with my decision and I was excited to serve. I have written in my journal that I have an excitement that I have never felt before, that it was different from an excitement of going somewhere fun. I really felt that serving a mission was right for me to do now. I look back at where I was at 21 and even though it was almost 2 years ago, I feel like I have grown so much since then. I don't know if I was mature enough or if my testimony was strong enough. That may be bad to say, but I really don't know if my testimony was strong enough to last on a mission. I may not have made it through the first few months. The year that I spent at school really helped me grow mentally and spiritually.
I received my mission call on Wednesday July 3rd 2013. Only thing was that I was leaving that same day to go camping at Island Park till Sunday. It was so hard knowing that it was coming that day and that I couldn't open it. I told my mom to not even tell me if it came. So the forever long (and pretty boring weekend, sorry Lynsie) was over and I got to open in on Sunday the 7th.
I will be serving in the Peru Lima South Mission for 18 months in the Spanish Language. I am to report to the Peru MTC on November 6th!!!
I am excited to go, but the 4 month wait is not fun at all. The first two months dragged on, and now September is already over and October is always a fast month. Next thing I know it will be November 1st and I will leave shortly. My nerves have been getting to me and I am very nervous to go, especially straight to Peru. I know I won't be by myself on the plane to Lima, but that is one of my biggest fears. And I am leaving about 95% of everything I have including my family. I am missing big things in my family and also my friends. I know that I am going to be serving the Lord along with my brothers and sisters and that will be so rewarding that I won't even be thinking about the things that I will be missing!
This is a new journey that I am looking forward to. My goal for the year 2012 was to enjoy the journey in life, and the small moments. I think I did pretty good at that. It was probably the funnest year that I can remember. The 21st year of my life. For 2013 my goal was to be Brave and to have courage. I had fun the previous year and I did try some new things, but I felt like I needed to get out of my comfort zone and make braver choices. I think that serving a mission is a pretty brave thing to do considering myself. I think serving a mission is one heck of a way to go out on such a great yearly goal.
I will definitely try to keep up with this and let you know about my journey of Pursuing Peru :D
Instead of starting my papers I kept attending school till I got my associates. After that I kinda felt lost in what to do in life. I went to school at Southern Utah University for one year and that one school year helped me strengthen my testimony so much. I had to learn to rely on my Savior for help and strength. I learned so much in the institute classes with the help of the instructors, who by the way are incredible teachers and have such strong testimonies. I had also met incredible people who's testimonies also helped strengthen mine.
While I was at SUU, the October 2012 General Conference had a new announcement for the young prospective missionaries. The new age change didn't affect me because I was already 21 at that point, but it affected 2 of my roommates. As I watched them prepare and receive their calls, I really started to ask myself again if I wanted to serve. Serving a mission had been popping up so often in my head that I really needed to have a heartfelt prayer with my Heavenly Father and ask him sincerely.
 |
| Me, Michelle, and Emily (Roommates are are serving in Peru and California) |
 |
| These people are the reason for me wanting to stay in Cedar. |
I was really torn on what to do because I was having so much fun in Cedar City and I wanted to stay for summer and return to school in the fall. I knew that my dad was having shoulder surgery in the summer and I knew that my mom would need help with him and around the house. So as I was praying on whether I should go home for the summer or stay in Cedar, I was told to go home and help out. I told myself I would pray about serving a mission when I got home for the summer. When I told my mom that I was coming home she paused and looked at me and asked if it had anything to do with a mission? I told her that I wasn't 100% sure yet, but that I thought it could be that reason.
When I had moved home, I continued to pray, and I don't know if I listen to the spirit very well or what, but I still wasn't sure. So again I made a decision and this time it was to serve a mission. The next Sunday was fast Sunday, so I fasted to make sure that it was something that I wanted, and was willing to do. I am pretty sure that I had a confirmation within the first half hour of church. And just as church was over I ran into the bishop who was asking how life was. He asked if I was going back to school in the fall, and I said no. Then he asked if I was planning on doing something for 18 months, and I said yes. So the process was started.
I can say that I felt so confident with my decision and I was excited to serve. I have written in my journal that I have an excitement that I have never felt before, that it was different from an excitement of going somewhere fun. I really felt that serving a mission was right for me to do now. I look back at where I was at 21 and even though it was almost 2 years ago, I feel like I have grown so much since then. I don't know if I was mature enough or if my testimony was strong enough. That may be bad to say, but I really don't know if my testimony was strong enough to last on a mission. I may not have made it through the first few months. The year that I spent at school really helped me grow mentally and spiritually.
I received my mission call on Wednesday July 3rd 2013. Only thing was that I was leaving that same day to go camping at Island Park till Sunday. It was so hard knowing that it was coming that day and that I couldn't open it. I told my mom to not even tell me if it came. So the forever long (and pretty boring weekend, sorry Lynsie) was over and I got to open in on Sunday the 7th.
I will be serving in the Peru Lima South Mission for 18 months in the Spanish Language. I am to report to the Peru MTC on November 6th!!!
I am excited to go, but the 4 month wait is not fun at all. The first two months dragged on, and now September is already over and October is always a fast month. Next thing I know it will be November 1st and I will leave shortly. My nerves have been getting to me and I am very nervous to go, especially straight to Peru. I know I won't be by myself on the plane to Lima, but that is one of my biggest fears. And I am leaving about 95% of everything I have including my family. I am missing big things in my family and also my friends. I know that I am going to be serving the Lord along with my brothers and sisters and that will be so rewarding that I won't even be thinking about the things that I will be missing!
This is a new journey that I am looking forward to. My goal for the year 2012 was to enjoy the journey in life, and the small moments. I think I did pretty good at that. It was probably the funnest year that I can remember. The 21st year of my life. For 2013 my goal was to be Brave and to have courage. I had fun the previous year and I did try some new things, but I felt like I needed to get out of my comfort zone and make braver choices. I think that serving a mission is a pretty brave thing to do considering myself. I think serving a mission is one heck of a way to go out on such a great yearly goal.
I will definitely try to keep up with this and let you know about my journey of Pursuing Peru :D
I'm New to This
So I have wanted to set up a blog for me to be able to post my letters from my mission to Peru. Hopefully this makes it easier for my family and friends to follow. I also wanted to have a blog for the new or past missionaries to travel to Peru. I looked all over trying to find a blog about a missionary's experience in my future mission, and I only found one. So this hopefully helps out anyone who is looking for what Peru is like.
I will hopefully let my sister Kylee update it with my letters because she is probably the most computer literate than anyone else in my family. Please make this look good.
I will hopefully let my sister Kylee update it with my letters because she is probably the most computer literate than anyone else in my family. Please make this look good.
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