The Call!

It seems like an awfully long time since we got our call.  We started paper work in Oct. and received our call in December, Dec. 21 to be exact.  Like all antsy missionaries, we went to the post office and picked it up early in the morning.  We then went to the Transient Services Office to do our current mission assignment and to make the calls to those we wanted to be with us when we opened it.  It was a pretty private affair that we wanted to share with mostly our immediate family.  There were a couple of others there as well.  Some of Jason's family couldn't make it and Micah's family were with us by video-phone.  What a blessing that little invention has become in our lives.

We all gathered together in the office because that is where the video-phone is so it was a little bit tight in there.  Thank goodness we love each other.  I had the envelope and was pulling papers out when Ken saw the right one.  He immediately grabbed it and upon seeing our assignment, fell back in his chair with his hand to his mouth and said, "Oh my!"  I'm sitting there for what seemed like forever, thinking, "Oh my what?"  He was in no hurry to tell the rest of us.  When he said, "You are called to the New Zealand Wellington Mission," a big cheer went up.  There was lots of hugging and crying and laughing and more hugging.

Neither one of us could believe it.  For the inevitable question, "Is that where you asked to go?"  NO.  THERE IS NOT A QUESTION ANYWHERE ON THE PAPERS ASKING YOU TO PUT DOWN WHERE YOU WANT TO GO!  End of that myth.  You can put down skills and talents and interests but they do not ask you where you would like to go and we wanted to let the Lord be the decision maker for this big one.  We expect our young people to accept whatever they are called to and then we older folks want to have our preferences met.  Ken's great grandfather went to New Zealand in the 1890's with 2 weeks notice, leaving his wife pregnant with their 8th child for an open-ended time.  We have the blessing of knowing how long and all the comforts that we could want while there.  We will go and do or I couldn't ever look him in the eye.