Application

For my application phase I chose the topic “missionary work/service”. This semester has been an incredible experience for me. I decided to go on a mission! It started back in January, when I began having thoughts about serving a mission. The thoughts had started to come more frequently. At first I refused to pray about it because I was afraid. I was afraid for multiple reasons. First, I was afraid I would get the answer to go on a mission. Not that I was opposed to it, I was just nervous. Second, I was scared that I didn’t know the gospel well enough myself let alone to go teach it to someone else. But sure enough the answer came that I needed to start my mission papers. I was so overwhelmed that I burst into tears while I was cutting Kiwi’s at work. This process of filling out my paperwork went fairly quick for me. I met with my Bishop on a Sunday and my papers were finished nine days later. That week was filled with tender mercies from the Lord, and even though they were small things they made a big difference. I submitted my papers to my Bishop who then walked them down to my Stake President. There we ran into a few complications with my Dental paperwork, which we were able to fix in less than 24 hours which was a blessing. My papers were submitted to my Stake President again and I waited for 2 weeks to get an appointment for an interview with him. After my interview he submitted them to Salt Lake City. They were sent back the next morning because there was more than 120 days until my availability date. After 8 days of impatiently waiting I decided it was a bad idea to wait as I began to doubt if it was even the right thing to do. So I decided to move my availability up a whole month and my papers were submitted to Salt Lake City on Sunday March 30, 2014. Ten days later, I received my call on April 9, 2014. I have been called to Virginia Chesapeake Mission, speaking English. I report to the Provo MTC on August 20, 2014 which happens to be my first availability date before I moved it up. That strengthened my testimony of Heavenly Father’s awareness of me. I know that he knew that I would be ready to go on August 20. I know that He is aware of me and my worries and he will bless us if we are faithful. I know that Heavenly Father has hastened the work, and I am so grateful that I get to be a part of His army of missionaries to preach the gospel to the wonderful people of Virginia.