Last Saturday, to open the first session of General Conference, President Thomas S. Monson announced that the age at which young men and women can serve missions has been dropped from 19 to 18 for young men, and from 21 to 19 for young women. The news came as such a surprise - no one besides the members of the First Presidency of the church knew this was going to happen. I feel like this is one of the greatest revelations the Prophet of the church has ever received. In my mind, it proves to us that God trusts us enough to send us out at such a young age, and that there is obviously a great need for missionaries - whatever that means. I can't explain the happiness that overwhelmed me when he announced that! I just want to share a quick story about that.
Earlier in the week, my good friend Tanner Palmer told me that he had written down questions in preparation for General Conference. I thought that was so great, so I decided to do the same thing, and really think about things that were on my heart and questions that I wanted answered. The night before conference, I prayed that I would be able to receive an answer to these questions and that the spirit would help me to understand the answers I received. I wrote one of the questions I had like this:
"Marriage and family - creating a family, getting married, girls - mission?, raising a family in the gospel, waiting to find the right husband, how to know when it's right to get married"
Another, I just wrote "missionary work."
Now, these aren't questions in the normal sense, they're more just ideas that I was hoping would be addressed.
I've been wondering for a long time if I am meant to serve a mission. Ever since I was baptized, it was all I wanted to do. I want to go to school, and I want to get married, but I always felt like going on a mission was the most important thing I could do right now, but I couldn't do it right now - I would have to wait until I was twenty-one. In my Patriarchal Blessing, it says that I will "be called to teach the Gospel." This could mean any number of things, but I remember at the time that I received the blessing, and every time I read it, I feel as though that means that I will be called to serve a mission. With the age lowered, I can't think of what else it could possibly mean. This is my chance; I have to do it! I talked to my bishop, Bishop Tanner, from home the other day, and we decided that I will put my papers in sometime in January or February, and set my availability date for sometime after winter semester. I can't even put into words how excited I am! It makes me nervous, but I know that it's right.
Tonight, two boys in my ward, Michael and Jacob Johnson (they're twins), received their mission calls, and I just had to record it, because I had never seen twins open their calls at the same time! While being here at BYU, I have seen a few people open their mission calls, and every time I'm embarrassed because I cry like a little baby. This is the video - it's so amazing and awesome and every other good adjective. I love these boys, and I'm going to miss them when they're gone, but I am so excited for them! I'm a little bit jealous too, but my time will come.
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