Just Like Yesterday

Lately I've been reminiscing on the day I received my mission call. It still seems like yesterday, and I still find it hard to believe that I'll be reporting to the MTC in less than a month. I thought I'd like to share it with the internet. But maybe some background first.

I submitted my papers at the end of September, so my first wait was to know when my call was assigned. On Friday October 18, 2013 ... I was at my desk studying when I got a call from my bishop. He told me that he went to check the status of my papers and that my call had been assigned on Tuesday the 15th. Imagine my excitement there! Both my cousin, and my friend got their calls a week and a half after they'd been assigned. From this, I figured it would be the same.

The next week, my parents checked the mailbox everyday and not waiting for me to come home from school, anxiously waiting for that big white envelope. It didn't come.

The week after, I told them I was going to check the mail. I was so sure that it had to come this next week. Having kept the mission a secret from almost my entire family, my mom and I planned that we would have a dinner at our house on Sunday, to reveal my call that we thought I was going to get that week. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday ... no big white envelope. Friday I was crossing my fingers. But... that didn't do anything. The mailbox remained empty. Our family dinner was good, but not as exciting as we planned for it to be.

Here we entered week 3 of waiting for my call, the week of October 27th. We already waited 2 weeks for this envelope to come, so we were quite anxious for the mail to come. Especially so, because my parents were leaving on vacation late Thursday night/early Friday morning. We wanted for them to be present when I read my call, as it just wouldn't be the same as on the phone. But my mom said she'd accept it if this had to be so.

Tuesday nights were my mission prep classes, so having not received anything Monday or Tuesday, I asked my fellow peers in my class what day their calls came. One said Wednesday and said that he had some friends who received theirs on a Thursday.

Wednesday after school, I went to check the mail and once again I was disappointed. I came in and told my mom I couldn't bear to be disappointed again, so I told her that she could check the mail on Thursday.

Thursday. It was an eventful day to start with. Not because it was Halloween. But while at school I started feeling unwell. I couldn't pay attention in any of my classes. I was even thinking about handing in my assignment for my last class and just leaving for the day. But I ended up staying for some reason. *if you easily have a queasy stomach, I suggest you skip a the rest of this until the following paragraph, I'll even skip a few more lines*  Immediately after that class I darted to the washroom cause I had to up-heave stomach content from my mouth, which is never a fun experience. So I called my mom, and told her that I did not want to bus home, and asked her to pick me up.

When she came to pick me up, she said she was basically staring out the window waiting for the mail minivan to arrive. She saw it come to one box, then the next and the next. It finally stopped at our set of mailbox. But shortly after, the minivan turned around. No time for mail to be put in any slots. "Noooo!" is what my mom told me she was thinking. The one part she didn't tell me, is when it came back.

After picking up some ginger ail from the store, I was back home, where I could just chill for once and not have to sit uncomfortably in squished university desks. My mom was at the table, doing something with her iPad, then told me to check something out at the table. Lo and behold, it was that big white envelope that held my call of where I'd be serving the Lord for 18 months. I don't think I can describe how happy I was. For my sister to be there when I opened my call, I decided to open it at 7:30 that evening. I phoned both of my grandparents to tell them my news, and they were both quite surprised and excited.

7:30 came. My sister and her roommate were here, along with my friend who was also in on the secret - as she found out when she saw me at mission prep. We had some of the family connected via skype, iPad, and the phone. I was expecting I'd get called to serve somewhere in Canada or the US. I never dreamed I'd be called to Mexico, but alas it is where the Lord needs me. My friend told me a few days before to savour the reading of the call and to remember the joy felt.  It's still there.

Here is a link to a video of me reading out my call.