Where in the World are you Going?

Like any other Pre-Missionary, awaiting their papers, I get asked about a ba-jillion times a day, "Where do you want to go??" Of course, the idea of going foreign is exciting and would be a fantastic experience! I mean, who doesn't want to be submerged in a completely new culture and learn a new language and be able to say, "Heck yes I lived in Australia, Argentina, England, Croatia, Russia, or even France!"  for a year and a half! What a crazy cool opportunity. But then I have to remind myself, that I could get called to the mainland for the next two years. Sometimes, people ask me what I will do if I get called to Pennsylvania or Ohio or Kentucky or something. And I tell them how it is! I'm going to jump and cry and scream and be just as excited as if I was going out of the country. The reason I have come to this ideology is because of some of the great wisdom that the my Stake President, President McArthur gave me the night of my interview! He told me that somewhere in this world there is someone or someones waiting for me to come and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. And that no matter where I am called, I need to remember that I was called to that place for a reason, and that the people there need me there. They need ME! And whether they need me in the U.S.A or on the Islands of Tonga, I will go! And no one but the Lord knows where that is.

This leads me to a piece of very exciting news! I was informed that my mission assignment has been made and that my papers were on their way Thursday morning! AHHH! Someone in this world knows where I am going to serve! I can hardly believe it! This was awesome news because my Daddy and my big brother are BOTH going to be here when I receive my mission call. So basically, I found out at work that my assignment was made, and I started crying right as a guest walked up to order food (remember guys, my excitement level went WAY over 7 at this point, hence the crying) and I had to try to quickly get a grip on my emotions and then I looked at the guest with this goofy smile on my face and asked them what I could do for them. Pretty sure they thought I was like the happiest PCC (Polynesian Cultural Center) employee in the history of all employees, and was extremely excited to be serving them nachos and standing in a non air-conditioned room that smells faintly of burning popcorn and day old chili. Nonetheless, I got a grip on my self and managed to help the next few guests with only a goofy grin and a little extra skip in my step. As soon as I could I ran outside and called home to let my parents know all the good news!

It never ceases to amaze me, all of the time, effort and prayer that goes into deciding where to send every individual  missionary. I still cannot believe that there are now people in this world who know where I am going. I'm hoping that a few days after Thanksgiving I will have my call and then it will finally be MY turn to know where I am serving. Today in Sacrament Meeting we sang the hymn, "I'll go Where You Want Me to Go" and I think it is the perfect end to this blog, as it states exactly how I am feeling.

It may not be on the mountain’s height, or over the stormy sea;
It may not be at the battle’s front my Lord will have need of me;
But if by a still, small voice He calls to paths I do not know,
I’ll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in Yours,
I’ll go where You want me to go.

I’ll go where You want me to go, dear Lord,
O’er mountain, or plain, or sea;
I’ll say what You want me to say, dear Lord,
I’ll be what You want me to be.

No matter where I am called to serve, I know I will love it, and I know that it is where I am supposed to be. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am so grateful to be a part of this new generation of sisters. And I am so grateful that I am both physically, emotionally,and spiritually able to serve a mission, and I am so beyond excited to share the gospel with the people of (insert place I will eventually serve) 

I'll blog again once my Dad and brother arrive, and it will be full of excitement and wonderfulness and happiness and good food

Peace and Blessings!

Once a Missionary, Always a Missionary

Today,while sitting outside the library studying that evil biology book, I was accosted by my roommate Hannah's boyfriend, Atif!  He looked at me and waved and next thing I knew he was galloping towards me and asked if he could sit with me and have a "talk". Now don't get me wrong, I haven't done anything wrong to this guy, or his girlfriend, but when someone says, that you need to "talk" it gives you the heebie jeebies! I started to get really nervous, and my heart was pounding, and he started asking about when I hoped to go on a mission and how long ago I put in my papers. Oh boy, then I started to worry that he had some terrible news about my papers or something and I really started freaking out! I think he could tell, because he started chuckling and told me not to worry, he just wanted to sit and talk about my future mission! phew! I can TOTALLY do that!

So then he sat and talked about his mission and some of the important things he learned while out. I am going to try and summarize to the best of my ability what he said. Firstly, Atif is from Pakistan and served in India on his mission. He got back about 2 years ago and will soon be marrying Hannah. But he started to tell me how important it was to give 100% everyday on my mission. "Never let a day go by without giving 100%. There is no tomorrow" he said. His mom told him while he served to live everyday like his last, and that once he was off his mission to continue to live as such.

 Like my title here, once a missionary, always a missionary. What great wisdom! It was such an awesome reminder that ESPECIALLY while I am here and preparing to serve a full time mission, that I can act in accordance with being a missionary example. Growing up in YW's and such, we are always taught to remember that every member is a missionary. How true! Just last night, I was at work at one of the snack shacks, and a couple came up to order food. They noticed that my coworker, Pria, had a small picture of Christ on the backside of her I.D. They were thrilled and began asking about it, and continued to tell us that they had served multiple missions for their church. At this point, I was pretty sure they were not LDS. What an opportunity! I proceeded to tell them that I was currently awaiting the opportunity to serve a mission for MY church. Intrigued, they began to ask questions about what sort of mission I was serving, where I would be and what church organization it was through. They were thrilled that someone as young as I am was choosing to leave the worldly things behind and preach the gospel. Funny, that obviously I was sharing a slightly different message than I think they thought, but that's no matter. It was still so fun to be able to tell someone new my plans for the next 2 years! 

2nd thought of the day: Atif also began talking of the blessings that my family would receive because I had chosen to serve. He mentioned  D&C 31, and how Thomas Marsh was preparing to serve, and began to worry about the well being of his family while he was gone. In this section Joseph Smith received revelation, telling Marsh how his family would be protected and blessed while he was serving. I am so excited that my family is also going to be blessed while I serve a mission! 

I still can't believe that I have reached this awesome point in my life and I cannot wait to receive my call! Half a week done!! And Dad comes in less than a week, AH! Such exciting times! I am so grateful to be alive in this great day and age! 

Aloha and Mahalo!

Emma

The wait!

Aloha to all my family and friends!

Today marks the first day of a very special occasion;THE WAIT!!! Which means that thankfully my mission papers are in! Now I have to come up with clever ways to distract myself for the next 2 weeks! Thankfully, I live in Hawaii so it is easy enough to find distractions, aka beach, work at the PCC and of course, school. However I still find myself at times daydreaming about all the 346 places I could possibly serve in, and I decided I needed another creative outlet. Hence, the start of this fabulous blog! So, here I am waiting, and waiting and waiting. Man oh man guys! It's hard to wait! These past couple of weeks have been strenuous, faced with a broken foot, positive Tb tests, chest and foot x-rays, midterms and many other such exciting things, so getting my papers done has been a miracle indeed! Regardless, they are done and complete and totally out my hands now. During the process, I was a little-whittle-bit naggy with the Bishop, and the poor bishop's secretary,  and the Stake President, AND his secretary. Let's just say that I was texting my Bishop at 5am and leaving countless voice-mails for the stake president's secretary, to make sure that I could get everything in in a timely manner. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm just as important and anxious as the next girl, BUT my Daddy is coming, and I really really REALLY want him to be here when I get my call. So, I suppose that in the appropriate Mormon spirit, I should probably make some cookies and/or casserole for them to thank them for their patience and what-not. Nonetheless they complied with my wishes, and my mission papers are officially in! My only option is to accept that I can't call the Prophet and ask him to "pretty, pretty, please, hurry up" whenever I feel anxious. Well, now that I think about it...... there is a girl who lives upstairs who is 2nd cousins with Elder Holland... now that's a connection to consider! Nah, I'll leave it to the Lords time.

So a quick note about my stake interview; During our little chat, and my happy tears that left me hiccuping for an hour after the interview, he asked me to share my testimony with him. Oh boy, at this point I was turning into a human fountain, with a little of statue made of tissues sitting next to me. I beamed back at him and smiled through the tears and said, "Oh, where do I even begin?" He chuckled, (I swear to you he knew just the questions to ask me to get the stream a-flowin') I began to bear testimony to him, how I never have had a doubt in my mind that my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and love me. I told him how I have a personal testimony of the atonement, and how I know that without the gospel, my life would be very different. I feel the influence of the spirit in my life daily, and I am so grateful for everything I have here and all experiences I have had up until this point in my life.

I am so excited to receive my mission call, and have NO IDEA where in this world I am headed, but all I know is that I'll go where the Lord wants me to go! And no matter where I go, I will cry, and jump and scream with excitement. My roommate Paige likes to make fun of me and my happy tears: she thinks I cry all the time, but I suppose you could say I do. I explained it to her like this. I have an emotional scale that ranges from from 1-10, 10 being elated happiness and 1 being like the most depressed I have ever been (I don't venture there) So I told her that when I am between a 3 and 7, I am fine! But once I go above or below, I cry. And with all the missionary excitement, I keep hitting 11 and 12, and I cry. Like I said before, human fountain. Regardless, I cry with joy, and I can't believe I wrote all this. Hopefully I'm not too all over the place, but look for new posts every few days, I'll be keeping all you lovelies posted on all of my comings and goings

Until the next time, I bid you all adieu!