Sin City

The reason for this post is because I have received my mission call to the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission. I will be speaking Spanish. I report to the Missionary Training Center on October 14th. I just thought I would share the experience with you. (Just FYI, this is the same post as on my blog...I reposted it here because it fit.)

First of all. Many of you know I have been waiting extremely anxiously to find out where I was going. The worst part was is that I gave them the wrong address! I didn't know when/where/how I would receive my call. Luckily my old room mate Kris was living at my old address still but it was maddening to not know what was going on. Not to mention that I was going home and I couldn't just go over to my old apartment to pick it up any more. So, I left Provo, I was in the 5th week since I turned in my papers and there were moments when I thought I would die if I didn't have my call within the next hour.

So, going home I was filled with a mixture of emotions. I just didn't know what the future held for me. On Sunday, that marked six weeks. I was feeling a bit discouraged. Would it ever come? Then on Monday we got home at around 8pm...what a long day. Then Tuesday. I was making hamburgers and I got a call from my bishop in Provo. As I began to open the phone I started trying to figure out what he would be calling about. Possibly that something had gone wrong with my papers? It never entered my mind that I was about to receive a mission call.

Bishop Potter told me that my stake president from Provo, President Ford, was also on the line. I just thought it was bad news. We went through the "How are you?" stuff and then they gave me the news. If I hadn't been on the phone I would have been yelling from excitement but since I was on the phone I decided all I could do was jump up and down in the living room. Dad was in the attic and mom was in the garden so no one knew yet. When dad came down from the attic and mom back inside I finished my conversation in my bedroom and when it was over ran into the middle of the house and announced it.

I'm pretty excited, to say the least. I can't wait til October 14th. It's going to be awesome. Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ is something that I know is right and I just can't wait!

I looked up some stuff about Nevada on Wikipedia. No, not the best source, but hey. It works. I found out that they have pretty strict drug laws, which surprised me. Also, the are the most dangerous state and crime, murder, and such are highest in Nevada. Also, prostitution is legal, not in Las Vegas, but in other counties it is. It's going to be interesting to say the least. Not to mention gambling and their extremely lax Alcohol laws. But there are two temples in my mission, the Reno and Las Vegas temples. That's sweet. And many towns in Nevada were settled by Mormons and missionaries actually had a fort around what is now downtown Las Vegas. (this is all according to Wikipedia by the way.) I know I have my work cut out for me but I'm really excited.