Receiving My Mission Call on July 9th 2009

The longest 16 days of my life, waiting for my call. I had such a hard time sleeping! Every night I'd be up until 2 or 3 in the morning researching all the different missions! Looking at member and baptism statistics, ward buildings, and specific cultural traditions!!! I was driving myself crazy and just about everyone around me! I would stalk the mailman and sit in classes making my "top 15 mission list" on where I wanted to go. Here were my top ten from a paper I found in a notebook sandwiched between my notes on Bernini Sculptures and some pointless rock information for my Geology Lab:

1. India 4. Palmyra 7. Baltic 10. Italy 13. Mexico
2. France 5. Brazil 8. Nauvoo 11. North Carolina 14. Haiti

3. Africa 6. Norway 9. Temple Square 12. Greece 15. Georgia

I ran home from my 1 o'clock class on Thursday July 9th and rushed to the mailbox where I saw a big white envelope and I screamed at the top of my lungs in the parkinglot of my complex "IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! MY MISSION CALL IS HERE! OH MY GOSH!!!!!" I had grabbed it so quickly out of the little mailbox that I ripped the corner and my first thought was "Oh no! My mom is going to be so mad that I ripped the envelope, she's going to want to save it!" (Oddly enough, that was the first thing Sydney said too when she saw it!)Can I just say that trying to get a member of my family on the phone is a nightmare...Sydney had a feeling it would come that day and actually answered her phone during a lecture and
not so quietly whispered something like "I'm leaving class, DON'T OPEN IT UNTIL I GET THERE!!!!" of course, I couldn't wait. I also couldn't wait to chase around three voicemails to get my parents. My fingers were trembling so much that I couldn't even make half of the calls I should have. So it was just me, my roommate, and my call...Do you want to know what I'm saying here? I'm saying "Please, Please, Please! Not Russia!!!"
Russia is the only place in the free world that scares me, it's so cold and everybody has guns andsmells like soup! Scurry!

I had waited for this moment for so long, but I just couldn't bring myself to look at the stinkin' second line of the first paragraph. I kept my hand over it, looking away, completely nervous

and almost sick to my stomach. Where in the world was I going to go?!?! My roomate started

screaming at me, so I finally removed it, and through peeking eyes read the second line:

BELGIUM BRUSSELS/NETHERLANDS!!!!

Yes this is a real picture, it wasn't staged and a split second after this was taken I started jumping up and down screaming "I'm going to Belgium! Belgium! Belgium!" Then just a few seconds after I stopped hyperventalating I got in touch with my parents and siblings, I was so flighty that I think I remember telling my little nephew that "I'm going to the place where they make waffles!!!" Wow, after the initial shock wore off, I read it through again and couldn't stop crying. My mom wanted me to call my great Aunt right away because she went to the same mission, as did my former Bishop and good friend Bishop Bradshaw. My parents were so excited and I am just so thrilled that I will be speaking French, and not only serving in Belgium but Northern France as well! I guess if it couldn't be India, then this is the place for me! Haha!!!