I was at my parents' house on Wednesday night for Micah's choir concert and as we were walking out afterwards, my mom got a text message from Thomas that said simply, "It's here!" We quickly called him and worked out a time for him to open it. He was saying we could wait until Sunday since it was already late and he was leaving the next day to travel up to Logan for his football game. I quickly told him that there's no way he could sit on that envelope for four days and my mom told him it would be like having a baby then putting it back in your stomach. There was no other option: it had to be that night.
I spent the next half hour at my parents' house setting their computers up to be able to do a Google+ "hangout" so we could all be on a video call together when he opened it. On my drive back up to Indianapolis I talked Isaac and Jacob through setting theirs up. Then when I got home I pulled my computer out and the sound card wouldn't work. Everyone else was set up and ready to go and my stupid computer wouldn't produce any sound. So I restarted it, which takes about a year with my ridiculous computer.
In the meantime, someone who was with Thomas called Tessa so we were facetiming with them, and someone had to call Isaac and facetime with him since his computer was also not working all of a sudden. It was an exhausting hour and a half trying to get things set up so we could be involved in this huge event that lasted all of one minute. In the nick of time my computer booted up and was working fine so Tessa and I were able to watch on my computer (with sound and everything!).
Hawai'i Honolulu! My official prediction was Fiji. Not too far off! He seems so excited about it. I think he wasn't too pumped about learning a language, so English is awesome for him. And Hawai'i is exotic enough that it's cool but it's technically still stateside so he'll have all the conveniences he's used to. Plus it's HAWAI'I. He-LLO! I'm pretty excited to go pick him up from his mission at the end. It's irrelevant whether or not he wants me to.
I'm so proud of his decision to serve, and more than anything I'm so proud of that line in the third paragraph: "You have been recommended as one worthy to represent the Lord as a minister of the restored gospel." It's not easy to keep yourself worthy and clean in this world, especially as a teenaged boy, so I'm impressed by and proud of his commitment to prepare himself to be worthy for this calling. When I was a missionary, I remember referring back to that line in my call (the letters are the same for all missionaries with the exception of the place and date) often and reminding myself that I really was prepared and worthy to do that work.
Watching him open his call brought back the memory of when I opened mine on November 17, 2006. I was working as a server at Max & Erma's restaurant and had gone to work that day, hoping my call would come. It was a Friday and I knew that mission calls usually came on Fridays in Indiana because they had to have a few days in the mail. I texted my mom that afternoon to see if the letter had come in the mail and she said no. I was really disappointed, since this meant I would likely have to wait until the following Friday.
I got home and changed my clothes and started reading the newspaper in the kitchen. I had it spread out on the counter and I was leaning over the counter reading it when my dad came in and stuck the envelope on the counter in front of my face. I felt a shock run through my body, because I'd already accepted that it wouldn't be there. But there it was. My dad had gone out to the mailbox earlier that day and taken it out. I looked up and saw him and my mom and my sister (I think). My mom had the camera out and was already videotaping me. I opened it up right there. Back then I didn't even know people organized huge get-togethers to open mission calls. There's no way I would've been able to wait long enough for other people to get there and there wasn't any such thing as Skype. So I opened it up with just me, my parents, and my little brother and sister (they were there, right?). I began reading and I'm pretty sure I was crying before I even got through the first sentence. My letter was exactly like Thomas' except mine said,
"You are assigned to labor in the Argentina Buenos Aires West Mission. It is anticipated you will serve for a period of 18 months. You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, January 31, 2007. You will prepare to teach the gospel in the Spanish language."
I remember that I was crying and I remember that I butchered the pronunciation of Buenos Aires and I remember that my mom gasped when I read Argentina. That moment was one of the most life-changing moments I've ever experienced. My mission was the hardest thing I have ever done. Serving in Argentina presented challenges I could never have anticipated. I was cold, hot, wet, tired, overwhelmed, sad, lonely, homesick, discouraged, doubtful, and bored (not all at the same time, obviously). I wanted to come home a good chunk of the time. But coming home was never an option. Instead, I stayed and I learned patience, humility, charity, and faith. I experienced joy, love, achievement, and gratitude. I met people who gave my life meaning and purpose. I felt the extreme satisfaction of knowing that even though I was miserable a lot of the time, what I was doing was the most important thing I could ever do. I felt a deep sense of belonging as I wore the Savior's name on my nametag every day and introduced myself as a representative of Jesus Christ. I felt pride in belonging to an army of missionaries who had dedicated every hour of 18-24 months to serving the Lord. Most importantly, I felt the extreme love and care that my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ had for me and those I was serving. I saw the Atonement change the lives of those I taught and I experienced that change in myself. I came to know Christ through my mission and that is an experience I wouldn't trade for anything.
I'm so excited that Thomas gets to have this experience and I can't wait to hear about what he learns.
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