So, I made this blog for someone to update with my letters from home once I'm gone.
Seriously, I mean, don't lie, we all know you're going to want to stalk me soo....I'm making that easy for you.
I just wanted to start off the blog explaining my decision to serve a mission and the process you have to go through to get to where I am now.
So to begin, let's rewind...ohhh....let's say about 7 years. That would put me at about 14-years old. At that point in time, I did not want to serve a mission EVER. AT ALL. I thought they would send me somewhere absolutely crazy like Mongolia, or Cambodia or something. I'm sure if you had asked Little Miss Attitude (aka my 14 year-old self) if she thought she would go on a mission, she would've said something to the effect of "No. I am NOT okay with bugs, and they'd make me eat gross, weird food. And you have to get shots before you leave and I do NOT do needles. Sorry, nope, not happening." And that was that.
Now, fast forward 3 more years. I would be almost 17 now.
In February 2007, there was a sister missionary that arrived in my ward by the name of Sister Olsen. She was the cutest missionary ever!! I loved to go out and teach with her and her companions. She got me thinking about a mission when she told me "You would be such a good missionary!" and things like that. Well, a little while later, I went away to college. I wrote to her while she continued serving in the Dallas area and when I came home for the summer, went teaching with her one last time before her mission was done. After my freshman year, all of my guy friends left on their missions that summer. Boys go when they are 19; girls when they are 21.
Sister Olsen's positive influence, combined with the experiences that have been shared with me by all my guy friends who are about to come back from their missions, really made me want to have those experiences too.
Going on a mission requirse filling out lots of paperwork, having multiple doctors appointments, and multiple interviews. They want to be sure that you are in good health, and a worthy candidate for serving the Lord. I started this process in January and then got a little distracted for a couple of months. I picked the process back up at the end of March and got my papers finished. Mission papers can be submitted 100 days before your birthday. For me, that meant I could turn mine in April 11th. So, after meeting with my Bishop and Stake President, and expressing my desire to share the gospel, I turned in my papers...and then waited. And waited, and waited, and waited some more!
When papers are submitted, they are sent to Church headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, where a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles personally & prayerfully reviews each application and then assigns a call. Missionaries are literally sent across the globe, and I was sooooooo curious to know where I would spend the next 18 months of my life.
Finally, April 23rd, found me trekking across the state of Texas with my mom, coming home from college. As we pulled up in front of my house, I jumped out of the car and ran to the mailbox...AND THE BLESSED THING WAS THERE!!!! It was a joyous moment. I wanted my little brothers to see me open it since they will be completing this process pretty soon so I decided to wait a little bit longer to open it, since they were still at school. Those 3 hours were KILLER. But I waited.
I opened my letter in the church parking lot, in front of pretty much all the youth in my ward because my mom was about to leave for sleep-over Youth Conference immediately after that.
It was an exhilarating thing to open that envelope and see where I will be serving for the next year and a half. I had to remind myself to breathe as I pulled out the letter and quickly covered it with the packet that was also in the envelope. I pulled the packet down so that I could see only one sentence at a time and began to read, "Sister Webb..."
DRUMROLL PLEASE.... turns out that I will be serving in the Ohio Cleveland Mission, in the Historic Kirtland Visitors' Center.
Seriously, I mean, don't lie, we all know you're going to want to stalk me soo....I'm making that easy for you.
I just wanted to start off the blog explaining my decision to serve a mission and the process you have to go through to get to where I am now.
So to begin, let's rewind...ohhh....let's say about 7 years. That would put me at about 14-years old. At that point in time, I did not want to serve a mission EVER. AT ALL. I thought they would send me somewhere absolutely crazy like Mongolia, or Cambodia or something. I'm sure if you had asked Little Miss Attitude (aka my 14 year-old self) if she thought she would go on a mission, she would've said something to the effect of "No. I am NOT okay with bugs, and they'd make me eat gross, weird food. And you have to get shots before you leave and I do NOT do needles. Sorry, nope, not happening." And that was that.
Now, fast forward 3 more years. I would be almost 17 now.
In February 2007, there was a sister missionary that arrived in my ward by the name of Sister Olsen. She was the cutest missionary ever!! I loved to go out and teach with her and her companions. She got me thinking about a mission when she told me "You would be such a good missionary!" and things like that. Well, a little while later, I went away to college. I wrote to her while she continued serving in the Dallas area and when I came home for the summer, went teaching with her one last time before her mission was done. After my freshman year, all of my guy friends left on their missions that summer. Boys go when they are 19; girls when they are 21.
Sister Olsen's positive influence, combined with the experiences that have been shared with me by all my guy friends who are about to come back from their missions, really made me want to have those experiences too.
Going on a mission requirse filling out lots of paperwork, having multiple doctors appointments, and multiple interviews. They want to be sure that you are in good health, and a worthy candidate for serving the Lord. I started this process in January and then got a little distracted for a couple of months. I picked the process back up at the end of March and got my papers finished. Mission papers can be submitted 100 days before your birthday. For me, that meant I could turn mine in April 11th. So, after meeting with my Bishop and Stake President, and expressing my desire to share the gospel, I turned in my papers...and then waited. And waited, and waited, and waited some more!
When papers are submitted, they are sent to Church headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, where a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles personally & prayerfully reviews each application and then assigns a call. Missionaries are literally sent across the globe, and I was sooooooo curious to know where I would spend the next 18 months of my life.
Finally, April 23rd, found me trekking across the state of Texas with my mom, coming home from college. As we pulled up in front of my house, I jumped out of the car and ran to the mailbox...AND THE BLESSED THING WAS THERE!!!! It was a joyous moment. I wanted my little brothers to see me open it since they will be completing this process pretty soon so I decided to wait a little bit longer to open it, since they were still at school. Those 3 hours were KILLER. But I waited.
I opened my letter in the church parking lot, in front of pretty much all the youth in my ward because my mom was about to leave for sleep-over Youth Conference immediately after that.
It was an exhilarating thing to open that envelope and see where I will be serving for the next year and a half. I had to remind myself to breathe as I pulled out the letter and quickly covered it with the packet that was also in the envelope. I pulled the packet down so that I could see only one sentence at a time and began to read, "Sister Webb..."
DRUMROLL PLEASE.... turns out that I will be serving in the Ohio Cleveland Mission, in the Historic Kirtland Visitors' Center.
I won't lie, I wasn't sure what to think of that at first. I had really wanted to go foreign and to learn a second language and I was kind of hoping for France or Korea. Or even Canada for that matter. So when I saw that I was going to Ohio, English speaking, I was... taken a back? I guess just really surprised because I thought I would do so well overseas. But that thought was only there for a moment. Then, I remembered this talk that describes how the Apostles assign missionaries to their respective missions, and I knew that I was going to the right place.
Ohio just feels right! I know that Heavenly Father needs me to share the truth that I know with His precious children there. And, I AM SO EXCITED TO DO JUST THAT! I enter the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah on June 23rd. I should be there for about 4 weeks, and then I will head over to Ohio, to start teaching and spreading the love!
If you have any more questions about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, feel free to visit:
http://mormon.org/
http://lds.org/
Or you can just ask me. :)
Love,
Soon-to-be Sister Webb
Ohio just feels right! I know that Heavenly Father needs me to share the truth that I know with His precious children there. And, I AM SO EXCITED TO DO JUST THAT! I enter the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah on June 23rd. I should be there for about 4 weeks, and then I will head over to Ohio, to start teaching and spreading the love!
If you have any more questions about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, feel free to visit:
http://mormon.org/
http://lds.org/
Or you can just ask me. :)
Love,
Soon-to-be Sister Webb
Yeah! You will LOVE Ohio, even when it's cold! It's beautiful and Kirtland is just a dream world, frozen in time and history. Love your process, but are you sure it wasn't a young women's leader about 5 years ago that helped influence that decision? ;) So proud of you!!!!
ReplyDeleteGirl I'm lovin this blog. I'm so excited for you and even more excited that we are going to be doing this together! You're such an amazing woman!
ReplyDelete