I'm serving a mission because...

For the past three months I’ve been living with my family in Sao Paulo preparing to go on my mission to San Pedro Sula, Honduras.  I leave for my mission in ten days, and while I’m really, really excited to go, the closer October 30th gets, the more nervous I become.  Before actually going to Honduras, I’ll be spending six weeks in the Mexico missionary training center where I’ll be learning Spanish.  I’ll arrive in Honduras in the second week of December, about two weeks before Christmas.

Before I leave, I wanted to write a little bit about what influenced me to serve a mission.  The story begins about a year and a half ago when I received my patriarchal blessing.  Before I got my patriarchal blessing, I hadn’t really thought all that much about serving a mission because the missionary age for girls was still 21.  I was only 17 when I got my blessing, and, at that time, I was focused on starting college and my family’s move to Brazil, so I wasn’t really thinking about what my life would be like in four years.  When I got my blessing, I was surprised to hear about the opportunity that I would have to serve a full time mission because it hadn’t really been something that I had given that much thought to.  Afterwards, I read and prayed about what was said about me serving a mission, and I knew that it was what the Lord wanted me to do.  However, at that time, it was still four years away, and I kind of pushed it to the back of my mind.

Fast forward a couple of months to October 2012: my family had already moved down to Brazil, I had been at BYU for two months, and it was time for the October session of general conference.  My roommate and I were watching the beginning of conference on my laptop in the kitchen while we made cookies to snack on during the other sessions.  We were bustling around the kitchen when President Monson got up to welcome everyone to conference.  He talked about the dedication of three new temples, announced two new temples, and then said the following:

Tears of happiness and understanding were streaming down my face at this monumental announcement, and all of a sudden, everything made sense.  The opportunities and promises spelled out in my patriarchal blessing weren’t four years away: they were right around the corner.  Right after President Monson announced the age change for missionaries, the choir sang my favorite primary song: “I will follow God’s plan.”  And to me, this was Heavenly Father’s way of telling me that he really wanted me to serve a mission.  And that moment I knew that it was exactly what I was supposed to do.

The next few months were busy and crazy as I counted down the days until I could submit my mission papers.  When my bishop told me that my call had been assigned, I couldn’t focus on anything that entire week!  I rushed home after class that Wednesday, grabbed the mail key, and ran out to the mailboxes.  The mailman was still putting mail in the apartment mailboxes, and when he saw me, he smiled and said, "I think there's something here for you!"   

I wanted to open my call right then and there, but I had to wait for my dad to get home from work so that I could Skype them from Utah while I opened it.  After what seemed like forever, my family was all together and it was finally time for me to open my call.  I was so excited and emotional that I started crying before I even opened the envelope.  But nothing has ever felt more right than when I read I was called to serve in the Honduras San Pedro Sula East mission.