The Large White Envelope

Ok, So it has been a while, a long while, lets just say the post about 10 things to get you through a tough week, yeah I really needed that one. And its not over yet, but three weeks from right now I will be done with all my finals and take that load off. I should probably be doing a million things right now, but lets face it, with what just happened, I probably won't accomplish much any way!

And what did just happen? Nothing too amazing or impressive. I checked the mail, and I had mail. Well, let me rephrase that, I got a letter. Just one. And I already know that inside it is a piece of paper and a booklet. So why is it such a big deal? Because this letter decides the rest of my life in a way. Forever after this I will be able to say, I spent a year and a half in _____. Or I served my mission _____. It decides when I start school up again after my mission, which changes whether I graduate spring or fall. It changes a lot. This one envelope contains a few key pieces of information I need to know to plan the logistics of the next few years. Where I'm going, when I'm leaving, if I learn a new language, what M.T.C. and who my mission parents will be.

It is here for real this time!

It is voluntary, I actually pay for everything. I take a leave of absence from school for at least the 18 months. I will only call home twice a year, and three times total over the course of my mission. I can only email my parents, friends and family for around an hour once a week. I will work hard, and walk lots everyday. It is work. I will probably get rejected and turned away more times than I can count, maybe even that many times in a month.

So why am I so excited to put my life on hold to go to who knows where and have lots of hardship and loneliness? Because I know HE did it for me. He walked the road less traveled, He was reject, betrayed and He was killed. But He loves me and each of us so much, that He would have done it for just one of us. Because HE lives, I'm serving a mission.

I am spending the next year and a half of my life, trying so hard to get my brothers and sisters of the world to remember that. They know that their Heavenly Father, and elder brother Jesus Christ love them, or at least they did once. It is my job to remind them. To remind them that families are designed to be forever! Not just till death do us part, but for time and all eternity. That is God's plan. To me it is scary to think that this all, the whole world happened by accident, but it is comforting to think that a loving God designed it all. God knows each and everyone of us, and He loves us despite the fact that each and every day we are imperfect. He has created a plan for us to return, a plan where we had to fall away, and Jesus had to atone for us. All this so we could choose him, and come back and live in forever families.

I have been called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And I already know I love the people of my mission so much, because they are my brothers and sisters. Where I am called is the place I know I can do the most good, and I can be blessed the most. Where I am called I will forever love and think is the best place ever. Where I am called is written in the large white envelope, and I know it is where I'm supposed to be.