A New Groove

I remember feeling nervous, excited, and anxious the 2 days prior to my call coming. I would lie awake at night and think of myself as a missionary:  the nametag, the testimonies born, the people who I would meet, the farewells I would get through and the homecoming I never thought would come. For years I have waited for the time when I could serve the Lord full time. I waited to hold that envelope in my hands knowing it was the one place that the Lord wanted me to be for 18 months. 

10 minutes before this picture was taken my Mom was at the post office picking it up because we asked the postmaster to call us when it came. How smart right? Just added a few more hours of waiting and wondering..

When it came, surprisingly I didn't freak out though. I anticipated having those same feelings of anxiety and excitement the whole day, but now that I reminisce on how I felt I was calm. I showed much excitement (which is not unlike me) but more than anything I felt peace. 

Back in high school I made the decision to serve. I knew I was going to go and my focus never changed. When the age change happened I was right in the middle of my nursing program and it was a long 2 years of patience and perseverance. But gladly I can say I did it and in less than a few months I will be stepping off a plane into the beautiful country of Peru.

At 7:00 pm I gathered everyone outside in my backyard and gave a little testimony of why I wanted to serve and a few of my favorite scriptures. It was a milestone for me and at that point my emotions were high. The crazy rollercoaster of excitement, and nervousness came back. At this point I am glad it all happened quickly. 

My Mom and I had heard of a really crazy and fun way to open my call. If you ask me now I would say it was SO STRESSFUL! She would open my call and then without reading it out loud, put the name of the city and the country I would be serving on a whiteboard and show all my family there. Everyone but me would know. I can’t tell you how hard this was!! During the whole process I was thinking…. What in the heck was I thinking? Everyone else knew but ME!? I should have rethought how I wanted to do it. But no turning back. It was nerve-racking to see all the reactions of my family. Especially my Mom's. She teared up once she knew where I was going. And then all the "Oh my goodness", "No way", and "WHOOOA" comments came and I just had to start asking.

After a few questions I figured out I wouldn't be in the U.S.

And then all the emotions came...

I then started to point to places on a map trying to guess and found out I was going to Cusco Peru on September 9, 2014. My Uncle JJ guessed the exact country! How cool because he served in Brazil and I will be able to relate to him throughout my whole mission. After that, I was able to read my call out loud and announce that I would be going to the Lima Peru MTC, and that I would be speaking Spanish. WOW!! I remember thinking how awesome it would be to speak Spanish and have it for my career as a nurse.

Heavenly Father knows me. He knows even though I have wanted to serve for many years and that this was the exact time I needed to go. He gives me strength to know I can do hard things. 

My mission will be the hardest but the best thing for me. It reminds me of our pre-earth life. We all said that. We were all so excited to come and experience this world but knew it would be hard. We knew we would be tested but we knew that if we were faithful and we remembered our Heavenly Father he would help us as long as we stayed close to him.

I remembered telling one of my friends that the year 2014 would be life-changing for me. I hope not as life-changing as turning into a llama though. Even though I feel like it will "throw off my groove", the new groove will be so good for me.

--Madi