Getting Called

Wow! It seems like so long ago. I remember waiting, what seemed like an eternity, to get my call to serve a mission. I was so ready to get out of the house and do something. I had graduated in 2007 but I didn't turn 19 till July of 2008. I didn't quite have enough money to go to school and save enough for the mission so I just decided to work full time and save as much as possible for college when I got home. After working for a year with no real progress in life except the bank account, I felt like I wasn't accomplishing anything. We had only been in Arizona for my senior year of high school and the few friends I had made were on missions or in college. I worked from 6:30am to 6:30pm five days a week and got home in time to eat dinner, chat with my parents and go to bed. I wasn't really tired after work but I just had nothing to do. Once the big white envelope came in the mail I was so excited I could hardly breathe. First of all, a big white envelope meant it was a mission call not a we don't need you letter. Also, I just was so happy that finally I had received my ticket out of boredom. My older brother was in Monterrey, Mexico on his mission and wasn't going to be home until the end of January 2009. With my family gathered around me, I opened the letter and began to read. I kind of skipped to the location part because that's the exciting part when you are waiting to serve. When I read Iowa Des Moines Mission my family had a bunch of mixed reactions. Most of them were kind of disappointed because I was going to one of the states, but I was overflowing with joy! I was just so excited to serve that I didn't really care where the Lord wanted me to go. My mom took me aside and tried to console me by saying that it was going to be ok and that Iowa is just as cool as Mexico. I was way surprised that my family thought I was so shallow. I said to my mom that I was just excited to leave the house and go serve the Lord. I had already known that the Prophet and the apostles received revelation from God. I didn't doubt my assignment and as long as there were people in Iowa then there was a need for missionaries. I was quite aware that before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ the whole earth needed to hear the message of the restored gospel. There were people in Iowa that needed to hear it just as bad as people in exotic places. In retrospect, I know that there were specific people prepared for me to come. I know that I was prepared throughout my life to bring the blessings of the gospel to specific people throughout Iowa and Nebraska. Most importantly, the Lord not only was mindful of His other children when He sent me to Iowa, but also of me. Because I served in the Des Moines Iowa Mission at the exact time that I did, my wife and I were able to see each other serve and we were able to have a strong friendship long before anything in regards to relationships could occur. I love the Lord and know that He inspires His leaders here on the earth. We need to follow their counsel with a firm testimony that God directs His church.