Opening the Mission Call - April 22, 2010

"Lift up your heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission is come; and your tongue shall be loosed, and you shall declare glad tidings of great joy unto this generation."   - D&C 31:3

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Well, where do you begin a mission blog? One might say that you could go all the way back to the day that the missionary was born and his parents looked upon him with wonder and awe as they thought of what the Lord had in store for him throughout his life, but for the sake of time (and tears) we will start this story on the day the mission call arrived in the mail.

Steven was the first missionary in the Gilbert, AZ San Tan Stake to be able to turn in his papers 120 days before his 19th birthday (for a long time it had been only 90 days prior and for the past few months it had been expanded to 100 days). With dad serving as the Stake Executive Secretary and having access to the online recommend process, we watched as the application made its way through the different levels at Church headquarters until it said "Call Letter Sent". In Arizona, if the status shows "Call Letter Sent" by Friday, the letter will arrive at the home on Thursday of the following week.

Preparations were set in motion to have friends and family over to the house on Thursday, April 22nd to open the letter. Thursday came around and luckily for us, the letter arrived just as planned! Mom & Dad took him out of school and went to lunch at Famous Dave's BBQ and talked about the excitement that everyone was feeling. Everyone was very anxious as we waited for the designated time.

Later, a large world map was set out on the kitchen table so that everyone could make their guesses (one domestic and one foreign). Soon people started arriving and making their predictions. As is to be expected, the guesses covered the globe, but most seemed to concentrate on Spanish speaking areas (the closest guess was Guatemala).  Once everyone was in their place and after a few seconds of trying to get everyone ready, the room got really quiet (except for a few rowdy relatives listening by conference call) as Steven opened the letter and read...Honduras San Pedro Sula!!

  

Click HERE to watch Steven open his letter!

What an exciting moment and one that none of us who were there will ever forget! As we start this blog today (about a month a half before entering the MTC) it gives us reason to stop and reflect on what lies ahead. Surely there will be trials, challenges and possibly a few heartaches, but most assuredly there will be even more moments of laughter, excitement and true joy. As these words are being typed, there are people in Honduras who are waiting for the gospel of Jesus Christ to be brought into their lives, people who are waiting for the special connection that they will feel with Steven and his companions. What a joy it will be to meet these people here and to share in these experiences with him as he serves the Lord for the next 2 years.

Stay tuned,
Greg (Dad)