So, Life is an Interesting Thing.

Well, if anyone actually reads this I guess you would all be surprised to hear from me so soon. And to be honest, I didn't think that I would be either. As the title of this post says, "Life is an interesting thing." It feels like it was forever ago, but so much happened at the MTC. I learned a lot about myself and other people. I saw kindness in them, and how people can really care for others. I saw the power of God and I was only starting my mission. It's crazy to me that I could understand my teachers. My Mandarin was five years ago. Five. The Lord really gives the gift of tongues to His missionaries.

Everything was going well until about a month in. I had to go into the MTC doctor about my allergies and I had this problem on my tailbone area. I decided to have him look at it. He gave me antibiotics and then to see what a surgeon thought. The surgeon took one look at it and knew that I needed surgery. They both said it's a pilonidal cyst. Knowing that I would have to be on a bike in Taiwan, they said that this was necessary. So two days after talking to him I had the surgery.

Everything was healing well and then something about three weeks later came up. This time it wasn't my health, but kind of my health. You'll get my meaning. One of the MTC District Presidents called me up and told me that they had a discussion about me. Okay. He said that with my kind of surgery and Taiwan being an all biking mission that I would injure my surgery area. So they talked to the Mission President and they all agreed that I should be reassigned. Definitely wasn't what I was expecting. He said it was all for my safety. Get the "wasn't my health, but kind of my health" thing now?

He told me there was something that I should know, though. Your mission language could change. Uh oh. My heart was broken because I had begun to get excited for Taiwan. And immediately my mind went to Japan. Crap. I really didn't want to hope for that again, especially if it wasn't the Lord's will.

For six days I had to wait to find out where I was going. The call had to go back to the Apostles and they had to reassign me. Waiting was hard; harder than some people thought. But when the MTC President called me to his office I knew that he knew where I was going. He asked me if I had any ideas, and like the first time around I didn't have a clue. He told me it was still Mandarin speaking, my nerves went down a bit. Then he said something along the lines of "the Brethren would like you to serve in the China Hong Kong Mission." Almost instantly my heart was leaping for joy. I didn't have to get myself excited to go. I was ready to go.

But my body wasn't.

I stayed in the MTC a month longer, moving into another district after my first one left and getting new companion. I saw districts that came after me go off to their missions. Even two elders going to Scotland and Ireland speaking Mandarin. (I'll write more about some areas that I remember that are Mandarin speaking in another post.) I kept going to the surgeon, and he even had to leave before me. The MTC and the new surgeon thought that it would be best for me to heal at home. So here I am. But it sure has been an interesting couple of weeks while being here.

It turns out that my parents were in town when I found out that I needed to heal at home. They were trying to help my Grandad with getting his home ready to sell. So they were able to come and pick me up right at the MTC. This was some sort of miracle. The District President told me before I left that my mission time is at a pause because of this. Once I'm am completely healed, I will go straight to Hong Kong and serve my 15 months. Now that's a miracle.

And now that I've been home for two weeks, things have been happening around me. I was able to be there for me to pick out something that Granni painted that I wanted to keep. Then my sister-in-law has her baby six weeks early, but their both in health condition. And today my younger brother had his appendix removed after having some pretty bad pain last night. So, yeah. Life is an interesting thing. It's a good thing that Heavenly Father is in charge of all of this.

China Hong Kong Temple

Hong Kong Flag

Macau Flag

Macau is part of the China Hong Kong mission. We'll see if I ever get to serve there. I also try to put up some photos and some of what I wrote back in the MTC. Maybe some people would like to see it.

Mission Call

I never wrote that I had decided to go on a mission. I had this impression while I was working at Walt Disney World (Aug. 15, 2012 - Jan. 3, 2013) that I should do this. One day sitting on the CP bus, I looked around and realized something sad. Not all of these people knew about the truth of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. I knew then that I had to be part of spreading the whole truth around. They needed to know that there is a Heavenly Father that loves us and has put His church on the earth to guide us.

I don't know why it took me so long to get the paperwork done. We were moving in three months and it would seem that I attributed a lot of the procrastination to that. Why, oh why? I should have moved faster, even after getting here in Texas. I really don't have an excuse for that. My timidity takes a hold of me and I let it win, a lot. I know that going on this mission will combat that.

I got everything all done and the papers were in. I was told that they would come later last week but the papers came in on Monday. Unfortunately for me, and my parents, we were in watching my nephews and niece because their parents were on a Disney Cruise. Parker was still home and that's how we knew they were there. Dad actually drove back to our home (2 hr. drive) to get the papers and Parker (thankfully he had the next day off). My mom and I patiently waited for them to come home and by then the older kids were back from Kindergarten and Preschool. Krystal came over (Zak was at work) and contacted Grandad over the phone. I really didn't know what to expect.

I will be serving as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints in the Taiwan Taipei Mission. I will be speaking Mandarin Chinese and have to report into the Provo MTC on April 16th.

The part that caught us off guard was how quickly I would be leaving. That's right. Two months. Holy cow! I guess the Lord needs me out there as soon as possible.

Taiwan Taipei Temple

Taiwan Flag

I'm not scared about learning Mandarin. I had taken four semesters of Mandarin back when I was in BYU-I. I didn't find it that difficult during that time and I know the Lord will help me. I can still read some characters and say some sentences.

I'm excited for what's to come! It isn't Japan but this feels right. I'm supposed to know Mandarin for some reason or other. I'm eager to know more about the people, the culture, and the membership. It should be a lot of fun to serve the Lord half-way across the world.