Called to Serve

Most of the girls my age seem to have had a lot more guy friends than I did in High School, and all of them have gone and come back from their missions. I on the other hand had to wait till I was 21 to start having my friends leave on their missions. Its been a neat experience to have them go all over the world, and hear how their experiences are so different and yet so similar. In the past few months I have attended the homecomings for two of my longest friends: Rachel and Holli.

(Rachel and Me at her Homecoming)

Rachel and I have known each other since we were two, and even though I moved away when we were 5, we've remained friends over the years. Rach went to Independence, Missouri. I loved hearing about her faith and love develop over the course of her mission.

Holli and I have known each other since the first grade. She's one of the silliest people I know, and I totally knew she was going to Brazil. There was no doubt in my mind. When she got her call to Fiji I was totally floored, but it was the perfect fit for her, and it was fun to have her talk to my daddy about his experiences in the South Pacific years before. Randomly enough, she even encountered someone who had been a missionary there when Fiji was part of the Tonga mission, and my daddy was in that mission presidency. My daddy seriously knows EVERYONE!

They are the only two that are back from their missions so far. My friend Ysabel is having such amazing experiences in Kyiv, Ukraine. My friend Marisa is totally gung ho and incredible with her service in the Rapid City, South Dakota mission (so exotic I know). She has spent almost her whole mission so far in northern Wyoming. My friend Kelsie just left a little over a month ago, and is barely into the field in Atlanta, Georgia.

The newest and most exciting of all is my niece Mary! She actually enters the MTC tomorrow morning. She is headed to Des Moines, Iowa, and couldn't be more excited. The mission is full of church history sites, and as part of her mission she'll get to go to the Nauvoo Temple. She just had her farewell on Sunday, and she is going to be such a wonderful missionary.

I'm not one of the ones headed out on a mission at this point in my life, but I absolutely am loving the experience of having so many of my friends serve, and relay their experiences. They have had their own personal difficulties, and yet there have been many similar threads through it all. Their love of the gospel is wonderful, and I'm loving everything they are sharing. (Now I just need to be better at writing them)