I figure this blog will be a pretty good record of my mission. Hence, I will start at the beginning; here's the story:
I submitted my papers and finished my interviews about 2 weeks before the end of my Freshman year at BYU. The rumor going around (it held pretty true) was that every mission call arrives within 7-10 days after your interview if you are at BYU. Counting the days, I figured my call would arrive on Wednesday, April 21st (calls typically arrive on Wednesday at the Cannon Center in Helaman Halls). This also happened to be the very last day of finals. I had been planning a trip down to Las Vegas to visit all my family there before I would leave for two years. My aunt Becky and cousins Benson and Casey were also going down to Las Vegas from Provo, so I figured I could hitch a ride down with them. We set the date to leave on Friday as soon as Benson finished with his doctor appointments.
Well, Wednesday came and went. Nothing. Thursday came. I checked again at the desk in the Cannon Center to see if any mission calls had arrived. They reminded me that as soon as any mission calls arrive, they call the recipient on the phone immediately. They also speculated that since Thursday was graduation ceremonies for several colleges at BYU, there would only be one morning mail delivery. Heart sunk once again, I waited. They also told me that on the next day (Friday) there would be more ceremonies, and there would only be one mail delivery that day as well. Suitcases and backpack in one hand—Thursday was checkout and move-out day for me as well—and nothing in the other, I mozied on over to the bus stop and boarded the 817 bus for my sister's house: where I would stay and wait for my ride to Vegas on Friday.
Friday morning came very early—you just can't sleep waiting for this kind of thing. Would I have to wait until I would get back from Vegas (an excruciating 2-weeks)? I won't be living in the dorm anymore...would I have the call forwarded to my sister's house—waiting for my return? to my cousins' house in Vegas where I would wait for it? back home where it would be waiting for me? I was going nuts.
Finally, at 9:30 AM, the phone call that I had been waiting for arrived—in the nick of time: we were planning to leave around 10 AM for Las Vegas. I coordinated with aunt Becky, and she said we could stop in Provo and pick up my call. It was a glorious feeling. For the 30 minutes it took to get to Provo. Then came the other feelings—the ones you would get on Christmas Eve as a kid, wanting to take an Exact-O knife and carefully slice the tape that sealed a present under the tree, then take a peek to satiate your wonder and curiosity, and finally carefully re-taping it so no one would notice. That feeling. For 6 hours, that envelope sat on the car seat next to me, daring me. Taunting me. Burning a hole in the car seat.
In case you didn't know, opening a mission call is a huge thing. Family and friends usually gather physically, by phone, and by skype/ichat/video chat to hear where you will be spending the next 2 years of your life. I carefully planned out when the best time to open it would be. Extended family would be visiting about 3 days later: more excruciating waiting time.
Finally the night arrived. I tried getting 3-way video chat with my mom in Illinois and my brother's family in Utah, with me in Las Vegas, NV. Of course there were technical difficulties...skype only allows 2-way video chat, and iChat requires that all three users be using the same IM service—which wasn't a problem when I tested it out with AIM. But my mom was on her Google Account in iChat at the time, so it didn't work so well. I ended up putting my mom on video chat and my brother on skype audio only.
Anyhow, the moment came and I opened my call.
Dear Elder Bunker:I'm sure you can imagine what feelings I encountered. This is right. It is my mission. The words of Mormon came to mind:
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the México México City South Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months.
You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, September 1, 2010. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language. Your assignment may be modified according to the needs of the mission president. . . . Sincerely, Thomas S. Monson, President
Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.
3 Nephi 5:13
