"Oh, my goodness! This is REALLY happening!"

After a very calm morning of packing, I headed to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) with my mom and dad.

First stop: Chuck a Rama for a FREE missionary meal!

 

Second stop: K-Mart to pick up a few "forgotten" items.

Third stop:  Near the Provo LDS Temple to take a picture.

 

Fourth, and final, stop:  The MTC!  As we approached the security gates, I exclaimed, "Oh, my goodness!  This is REALLY happening!" After unloading my two suitcases, and giving Mom and Dad a hug, I followed two elders up the sidewalk to start my service as a full-time missionary!  There was a lot of EXCITEMENT, and believe it or not...no tears from anyone, EVEN MOM! 

 

See you in eighteen months!



Be Warned...I Am Not a Writer!

Well, it is 2 AM - officially Tuesday - which means tonight I get set apart to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.


Wow!  I cannot believe that I am finally to this point in my life!  


I have been asked over and over how I feel about this, and, well, I don't think I can adequately describe the range of emotions running through me now...  
I am excited - I mean this has been something that I've looked forward to since I was a little girl, but I'm incredibly nervous.  Who wouldn't be?  I am leaving behind everything I know for 18 months!


The big announcement of the last General Conference no doubt came at the perfect time in my life, and truly words cannot express the pure joy and excitement I felt at the news.  To be very clear, though, the reason I am going on a mission is not because of the recent age change.  While this affected when I would serve, anyone who knows me well knows that I chose this path long before October 6, 2012.  I am serving is because I have always felt that this is what I need to do.  


I guess I am nervous because I don't know what to expect.  And I really don't know if I am 100% ready for this.  I do not comprehend all the reasons things are the way they are or why they happen when they happen, but if I've learned anything in the past six months, it's been that I don't know everything.  


But according to a quote on a little clock in my house, "the best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time."  I guess that's true.  There is an excitement about waking up to the unexpected each morning.  Maybe it's good not to know everything!


That being said, here's to the next eighteen months!