[Oh I probably should've mentioned that because I passed the advanced Spanish test, they bumped my report date up two weeks so that I'll be on a normal transfer rotation when I leave the MTC--just two weeks after I get there. Say whaaat? haha I'm so excited! I can't imagine having to wait another 2 weeks to go on top of the 4 1/2 months I'll have waited. Oh and I'm back to the Provo MTC.
Originally I was called to the Provo MTC, then I got switched to Mexico City (same date as before--July 17th), then to the Santiago MTC (reporting July 4th), and then I got switched back to Provo and I'll be reporting July 3rd!
Can I just tell you what a blessing it was to get switched back to the Provo MTC! When I first learned that I'd be going to the Chilean MTC I was really excited, but I also knew that it meant I'd have to get a flu shot as part of my vaccinations (because if you enter the MTC in the southern hemisphere during the months of Mar-Sept it is required.) Anyway, I hate shots, and am just kind of opposed to the flu shot especially. And after I received notice that I would be going to the Santiago MTC, I prayed that somehow, someway, I wouldn't have to get the flu shot. Well...my mom and I waited and waited and never heard anything from church headquarters confirming the change to my reporting date had been made. So during the three days I was home between trips, we called and the lady at church headquarters said that in the system they had me going to the Mexico City MTC reporting July 17th and they didn't have in the system that I'd passed the Spanish test. (Apparently whoever had told me that I'd be going to the Santiago MTC hadn't updated it in the computer or something.) So she switched it and said that I'd now be going July 3rd and going to Provo. What a HUGE blessing!!! It took me a little bit of time to realize God's hand in that situation, but I know without a doubt that that was His doing!]
So my last post was a little...down in the dumps, so I just wanted to catch you up on everything because life is just so great!
So since writing my last post, my, oh my, how my life has changed.
-I've gone through the temple! (March 29th! Wooh!)
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| My mom and me! The whole fam was there, but just aren't in this pic. |
-I traveled in Europe for a study abroad for 2 1/2 weeks
-Then off to Hawaii for a family vacation (the last Hurrah! according to my Dad :)) for a week and a half
..And then we've been back home for about a week. Oh by the way, my brother and I placed a Book of Mormon on the flight home from Hawaii! :)
I've almost finished my spring classes for college (3 quizzes to go!) and then I'm home free.
I've been reading the Book of Mormon way more intensely, and let me tell you, that, in and of itself, is life altering. I've also been attending the temple more frequently. I've also seen a huge difference in my life from that. I'm just so happy!
When I first got my call, and the weeks following that, I was so excited to go on my mission. But then as time passed I started to wonder if this really was right. Let me explain...
So I've wanted to go on a mission for as long as I can remember. And I've always told everyone that I planned to serve. Because of my program at school, the age change didn't affect me because I had to go to school winter semester too, so my papers would just be going in the same they would've had there been no age change (21-year-old sisters represent! :) haha) Of course I did pray about the decision to go before I submitted my papers, and I knew that the timing was right and my decision was right. But throw in the stresses of school and life and a waiting period of 5 months before I would be reporting and it isn't uncommon to start to wonder about your decision. I mean, it is a HUGE, LIFE-CHANGING decision after all.
I never seriously thought about not going, but the thoughts of what I'd be missing out on for the next 18 months definitely crossed my mind more frequently as time passed. Most of my friends in school will continue on in the accounting program and basically be graduating when I get home (yay for the Master's Program!), so I'll start with an all knew group of people that I won't know at all; all my friends are coming home from their missions and i won't get to see most of them before i leave, etc. The list of things went on and on.
But one day, and it's sad to say that this day happened within the last month, but one day I had this thought about all the people I'd be serving, and the countless lives that I'd have the opportunity to touch, besides my own. And the thought basically said, "the mission is a great opportunity for you to grow, and you will grow immensely, but going on a mission isn't just about YOU."
As soon as I had that thought, I realized how petty most of the things I will be sacrificing here at home are. And my excitement and joy to serve a mission returned exponentially greater than before.
I know that as I've thought more and more about the reality of my upcoming mission service, the reality of all of it has been starting to hit me. The fact that I really won't know everything that I'm about to get into before I go used to overwhelm me a little bit. Haha I used to have this naive view that missionaries just knew what they were about to do prior to going on the mission, that all the little questions (about things like do i really need to bring this or that? Am I really going to be using a dog taser on my mission?? etc. haha) would just be answered and all the gaps (like not yet being a spiritual giant) would be filled. but it's just not so. You go into the mission not knowing everything that your mission will entail and being a spiritual giant isn't something that just magically comes. You have to work at it, and you have to work hard.
In fact, I'll go knowing just a few things: what mission I'm going to, who my mission president is, that David Archuleta is in my mission :), a few of the girls who'll be in my mission (I'm meeting up with a few girls for lunch next week who are going to my mission a couple weeks after I report), and that's about it. But it wouldn't even matter if I didn't know any of that or anything else, because the most important thing that I know is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true and the Book of Mormon is true!
All the unknowns don't stress me out anymore. The fact that my Spanish is rough (even though I passed the test--seriously the guy who gave me the test must've either been feeling super generous that day, or he had just gotten off the phone with someone who tanked their test so I sounded like a pro compared to last person haha), or the thought of what I'm leaving behind, or anything else that might've worried me or stressed me out at one point or another before, isn't stressing me out anymore.
People have asked me what I'm most scared about for my mission, and I used to give answers, but I am not afraid of anything anymore. I feel so calm about my mission. I have faith and I am doing the very best I can and will continue to do so. I know that without God I am nothing, but He will make up the difference for everything that I lack.
I am now more excited to serve a mission than I have ever been in my entire life, and let me tell you, I've been pretty excited about it before. :) I've had witness after witness that this is what I need to do. (one little small witness was how buying my boots just fell into place; when my mom was shopping for boots for me, she literally got on the website--first site she went to (our neighbor told her about it) had one pair left of the most perfect boots for what I would be needing that were my size (10 1/2 isn't exactly a common size). She ordered them and they fit perfectly. Seriously, such a blessing from God!)
I was reading my scriptures the other day and I ended up in D&C 15:6, which reads,
"And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my father."
I know this was just another witness to me. I know that serving a mission will bring so many blessings into my life. I know that I'm going to the mission that will change my life in the way God needs me to be changed. I have been so humbled these last few months, and I am so thankful to God for humbling us when we can't/won't humble ourselves.
I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and I am so excited to go share that message with the people in Chile!
Rancagua 
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