Mission call!

So it FINALLY came!!!! I can't believe it is FINALLY here! I FINALLY have a legitimate mission call! WOWZA! This is really happening :) So the 2 weeks that I waited from the time I found out it had been assigned until the day I finally received it were a little nerve wrecking not gonna lie... But then finally on Friday February 3...
I got a text from my tenants out in Spruce Grove that said
"there is a Giant white envelope from a church in the mailbox for you...is that what you've been looking for?" 

YES!

So I immediately called my Mom because her and my Dad wanted to drive up and be with me when I opened it. So they started driving up and I stayed at work to distract myself haha. Cool thing is Mama & Papa (my grandparents) happened to be up at my aunts for the weekend so I was able to open it with them to.

So I finally got to Spruce Grove at about 8:30 ish I think and checked the mailbox!

Sure enough it was there! 

This is my Extremely nervous/ excited face!

In my mind I am thinking "WOAH BABY! this is for real!"

So I had to talk to my tenants for a bit then I headed over to Auntie Jens house.

Where no one had a clue that it was here they juts thought I came out to drop some stuff off and visit. Which was legit because that was the plan... 

So then about 5 minutes later my Mom & Dad walked in and Mama was like "what are you guys doing here?" and then I said "I have something to open" she took a few seconds and then she got SUPER excited and kept saying "Oh my! Oh my! Oh my!" haha it was pretty funny 

So then we all gathered around in the Living room and I opened it up.

I covered up the actual call letter with the info packet so I could read it one line at a time and not skip ahead. 

So I read the first line that says

"You are hereby called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."

Then I move it to the next line and I start to laugh and I say "Well this is funny!"

and I continue to read...

"You are assigned to labor in the Canada Winnipeg Mission"

I continued to read and I report to the Missionary Training Center May 30 2012, and I am English speaking.

I am SO EXCITED!!! 

I have never been east of Alberta! So this is foreign to me ;)

I am soooooo grateful for the opportunity I have to be going on a mission! 

I am soooooo excited to FINALLY have a mission call! 

I am sooooooo excited to be going to the Canada Winnipeg Mission!

I am sssoooooooo grateful that I am going to be speaking English!

I am sooooooo happy that I am going on May 30 because it gives me tons of time to get everything in order!

My favorite part of the whole thing is that for the past few months as people have been trying to guess where they think I am going every time some one would guess somewhere crazy foreign my response every time was "Let's be serious I am going to Saskatchewan"

My mission covers the entire province of Saskatchewan! hahaha

My mission is HUGE! it covers all of Saskatchewan, all of Manitoba, a HUGE chunk of Ontario, a little piece of Minnesota and a tiny little snippet of Alberta.

How cool is that!??!??!?!?!?!!

and the best part is that I do not leave until May 30 which means I do not have to work myself to death for the remainder of my time in Edmonton because I have adequate time to get everything situated! So I will be able to relax and have some fun before I go! YAY! less 12 hour days! woohoo!

"Goin to Winnipeg!" 

According to Google this is the Manitoba Flag

look at the cute little buffalo... haha 

I LOVE my mission already! 

  

"PATIENCE is a VIRTUE"...... (that I clearly do NOT have)

So I am being tested yet again.... apparently I have a lot to learn haha. For those of you who know me you know that when it comes to patience- well I don't really have any. 

I started my mission papers back in May 2011, I had a plan (as I always do I can't really function without one) Plan was slowly fill out application till September. Get medical and Dental in September/ October-ish send in Papers early November. 

All went as planned till November when during my final interview I discovered that I could not send them in until 4 months before my date of availability not 6.

So I was on hold again... till the end of December. December 30 to be exact.

Well those next 6 weeks were by FAR the hardest weeks since I made the decision to serve. Everything that could go wrong DID, I was SO discouraged and had lost my desire to serve all together.... then when I really thought about it and prayed I knew that I needed to go through with it.

My impatient self not wanting to wait ANY longer moved my date of availability up to April 20 so I could send them in December 20 instead of waiting till the 30th. 10 days BIG woop! right?

So December 22 they were officially submitted to Salt Lake City.

Where yup you guessed it another hold up... My papers were flagged at the mission medical office for about 2 weeks before they were submitted on for assignment. 

A MILLION urine samples-multiple doctors appointments and a kidney ultrasound later... Salt Lake realized they had flagged it for no reason and forwarded them on without any info from these tests. hahaha

Ya'll know how much I LOVE doctors ;) that was a lovely experience. 

So they were forwarded on for assignment during the week of January 11.

Then I waited.

On Sunday January 22 I was informed by my stake president that my call was assigned on Friday January 20.

So since then I have been waiting..... and waiting...... and waiting......

My life has been flashing before my eyes for the past 6 years until this past month. 

I think Heavenly Father is trying to teach me patience. 

I am not doing so hot if that is the case.... haha 

ANY DAY NOW!

YIKES!

this whole thing seems so surreal... I NEVER thought in a million years that I would be going on a mission

it's kind of hard to believe actually, and hasn't really sunk in.

I don't think it will feel real until I am on the plane and even then it probably won't feel real. 

I have made progress in the patience area though I did not drive to Spruce Grove tonight to check the mail...

(I have my tenants checking the mail box instead haha hopefully they checked it!?! what if it's in there right now?! YIKES!! guess I won't know till tomorrow)