I have received my mission call to Geneva Switzerland!! But as you can see, my mission covers much more than that. I have a lot of France, all of Luxembourg, and a little bit of Belgium. I am so ecstatic to preach the gospel in french! I took three years of french in high school and 2 more years in college.
I will report to the MTC in Provo on October 20th of this year.
I really couldn't be more excited about it.
When my call arrived, I had been waiting in my living room, and a couple minutes after 10:00 am, I went outside to look and see if the mail man was here or coming. My mom laughed at me, and then she told me that she had put some mail in the box that morning, so the flag should be up. I looked at the mailbox- the flag was not up- I turned to my mom and said, "Really?" I charged down the street as she nodded. My mom told me later that I'd never moved so fast.
I opened our box, and the only thing that registered in my mind was the red post stamp in the corner of a big white envelope that I recognized immediately. It was here.
I ran back to my mom screaming with joy. She asked me for the other mail and I held it out to her but she snatched my call away from me. We had a little mail face off before making a hostage exchange.
I held it to my chest for a good five minutes while my heart rate increased 5x and I stopped breathing. I called my dad, and a bunch of other people to tell them the news. The whole time, my left arm and leg were shaking. I'm sure I left a lot of really funny messages yesterday, because I could hardly breathe, and words just could not come out right.
But I told everyone to be at my house at 4:30 so I could open it.
Now I had to wait 6 hours until then.
Mom distracted me by taking me to lunch and Costco, but first I had to shower. My nerves were completely whacked- a hot shower does amazing things to calm you down.
When we got back from Costco, Kristine and Billy came over to take over the job of distracting me- which they did very well, except for checking the time every hour and commenting on the time. My mom, at one point, asked if I realized I had an hour left. Of course, I was aware. It was the longest hour of my life. We played ping pong for a long while, and we started playing Grum before my friend Jared came over after work.
Then we made a Rosaritos run for nacho supremes.
Soon, my cousins arrived, Paul, David, Madeleine, Josh, and Ben. Grandma and Lora came as well, and my friend Bonnie.
Caitlin and Lindsey Hendrickson were able to come as well. And of course, Mom, Dad, Carl, and Kristen were all home.
So we gathered in the living room while we worked out who would call whom with speaker phones.When everyone that needed to be on speakerphone were all set up, I was ready to open it. Cameras rolling, and letter opener in hand- the moment was so surreal to me. I could hardly keep composure.
I read my mission call and everyone cheered when they heard Switzerland, Geneva and gasped and 'wowed' when they heard October 2oth (a long wait) and as my voice went up 5 notches as I read that I would be learning the French language, the excitement (mostly mine) exploded.
I could barely speak- I laugh now at the video- because I was so not capable of thinking.
Hugs all around and Kristine yelling, "I knew it!!!" Bree and Kira Middleton arrived- so I got to tell them.I had a lot of people to call and tell the news. If they didn't answer, I told them to call me back, because I wanted to tell them in person.
Some people hung around longer, but some people had to be off to their duties. And I made a bunch of calls. My mom liked to hear me make each one. She said that every time I told them Switzerland my voice got a little choked up with excitement.
One call made me cry, and my friends thought that it was a success. I got to talk to my Grandma Ginny, and she told me she knew my Grandfather, and Grandmother, of course, were proud of me. My eyes are starting to water, even now. I miss them so much. I wish they could have been here now, but I know that they are proud of me. I know they love me. I am so grateful for the missionaries that taught my Grandmother while my Grandfather was at sea, reading the Book of Mormon. I would not be here if they hadn't both decided to join the church. I'm so grateful for my Grandma Ginny; she is so wonderful and I love her so much. I hope that I will get a chance to visit her this summer.
I spent the rest of the day with Kristine, Billy and Bonnie. We watched Free Willy (random, and spontaneous) and I was really happy when Shannon stopped by!!! She had just come home from Riverside, and though she couldn't make it to be here when I opened it, she came by to see me anyways, and I got to tell her the awesome news.
After my friends went home, I watched Carl play Volley Pong (a game they invented) with Jack, Chase, and Simon. Jack gave me a BIG hug, and he and Chase both said how jealous they were.
Ping Pong went on until 1:30- a little later than my Dad would have liked.
After they went home, I just couldn't go to bed. I got in bed, but I was not tired- duh- I was too excited. So I went downstairs and started uploading videos and stuff. At 3 o'clock, I was finally feeling tired and went back to bed.
