The purpose of this blog!

As many of you know there are pretty strict rules about emailing and Internet use in general on while serving a mission. I can only email once a week to immediate family and I can only do that through the churches email service! My mom said that if I would get her a list of everyones email she would forward a letter to everyone weekly. However I don't want to leave anyone off the list or chance getting emails wrong. So here's whats going down, I will email my mom a generic email every week that she will then post here! This way everyone will be able to come and get the scoop from Georgia as they please! I hope that everyone will enjoy this blog and the it will fulfil the measure of its creation!

receiving the call

The cell phones on speaker phone while I read my call!

Of course My call came the one day that week I didn't get ready for the day!

My papers were received in Salt Lake on a Monday(March 16th) and I had received a call from my Bishop that my call was in the mail on Friday(March 20th)! Again things were moving quickly! Of course starting the following monday (March23rd) I would rush home on my lunch break and check the email. And for 3 days I would be so excited as I pulled up to the mailbox and then pull away so disappointed. So on Thursday March 26th I had pretty much given up hope that it would be coming at all that week. However with what little hope I had left I went ahead drove home to check the mail. On the way I got stopped by a train, stuck behind the slowest driver ever! I thought I bet my call is here because my patiences is being tried! And sure enough there it was, 11 days after my papers had been sent to Salt Lake the call was in my hands! I had told my family and friends that I when my call came I would wait until after work to open it so that anyone that wanted to be there could! However it didn't work that way. I ended up driving with my mom into my sister's store, where we met up with my dad, my sister, her husband, Bishop Mangum and his wife and Craig Mergenthaler(however he was too slow and I didnt wait for him to get there before I opened the Call)! It was prefect! I will never forget the moment I read you have been called to Serve in the Georgia Atlanta North Mission. There is a power in the call that reassures you that your call is from the Lord and he truly knows where you need to go!

Making the Decision

Seen as this blog is devoted to my mission I find it only fitting that I share the story of how I came to making the decision of serving a mission!
After being back in Helena for about 7 months I started to feel like I was just sitting here taking up space and not really doing much with my life. I started thinking of all the different things I could do,for example; move back to Cedar City and going back to work at Head Start, Going back to school and getting a degree in Social work, or even just moving to some random place, doing so random job. Yet none of these things seemed to be right. After much pondering and prayer I decided to seek counsel from the Bishop. I met with him on Feb.1st, and in that meeting he asked me if I had ever thought about going on a mission. I quickly replied "yes but it's not for me and besides I'm to old to go on a mission now"! After much talk he encouraged me to pray about it and told me that we would meet again soon. In my mind I was thinking yeah yeah, I'll pray about but I will get the same answer I've received before and end up right back at square one. Well I went home and said a little pray and pretty much said I will do thy will but... I would really like thy will to be... and went onto tell him my will. Over the next week I pondered and prayed about it a lot. By the end of the first week I had come to the decision that either decision was right, but I knew that one had to be better then the other. So I kept praying and pondering. I even call a few friends and family members looking for advice. Hoping that someone would tell me what I wanted to hear. I was fighting the feeling in a huge way! I had a hard time giving up my will and truly letting his will be done, Until I was praying on the Morning of Feb 15Th, exactly 2 weeks from my first talk with my Bishop, when I realized that his will had become my will and that I truly did have a desire to serve a mission. I went the Bishop that day and we start the paper work right away. I had my papers done and in a month! I have no doubt that the Lord has work for me to do and that he needs me to go NOW! There was not time for me to sit around and debate if I should go or not.