Mission

A picture of my sister and I right before she left to Guatemala on her mission.

The first thing I did when I came home from Qingdao was check my email. To which I found an email from my mom telling me that the missionary age for girls has changed from 21 to 19. I was absolutely shocked. I’ve always wanted to go on a mission, but I didn’t think that I had to worry about it till December or January. And now here was the opportunity for me to go sooner. I’ve been putting off praying about going on a mission for a long time, but I decided it was time to try. My answer came immediately—YES!

I think I’ve always known that I am a supposed to serve a mission. I have been blessed so much in my life and I have a strong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know that the Lord has been preparing me to serve and it’s something I really want to do. I think coming here to China has prepared me the most. I’ve learned how to be away from home, live in a different culture, keep up personal study, etc. I’ve been given so many opportunities to exercise my faith here and I know that my testimony has grown a lot. “Culture shock” is kind of a vague term, but I feel like I haven’t really gone through it. Yes, I’ve had those moments where I think “Ew that kid is peeing on the ground!!” or “Why would you put a chicken’s head in this??” But for the most part, I’ve adjusted just fine here. I love experiencing a new culture, learning new things, and interacting with people entirely different than what I am used to.

So I decided I want to serve a mission and with the encouragement of my parents (well mostly my dad, because my mom is sad to know that I’ll be leaving again), I decided I wanted to fill out my papers ASAP. But here I am in China, two hours away from the nearest branch, I’ve never had any of the shots (and I don’t know if I trust hospitals here), and I had no idea how I would get any of the paperwork done. I was filled with questions and I had no idea what to do.

The following weekend some of the girls and I decided to trek out to Nanjing for church. There I ran into four other girls who have also decided to serve missions and want to fill out their papers while here in China. I found out that the Nanjing Branch President can help you fill out the papers and the next weekend the President’s wife was taking some of the girls to a hospital to get their physicals and dentals done—and I could go with them! Also, I found out that immunization shots are required before entering the MTC, but are not needed to fill out the papers. I was so happy, I was almost in tears. I convinced two of the girls to come with me the following weekend and I was able to get my dentals done and most of my physical.

The following week, I was finally able to convince one of the girls to come to the hospital with me to finish my physical. When I got home that night, I checked my email to find an email from the President’s wife saying we forgot to get a blood test in Nanjing so I would need to go back to the hospital to get that. Nanjing is a bigger city than the one I am in and they had a really nice hospital, but the ones in my city…they are really sketchy and looks like they give more diseases than cures. Nevertheless I went back a third time to a hospital and my physical was finally done!

I printed off the papers in the school’s copy room (in China you have to fill out papers on a hard copy), my parents emailed me a lot of information, and I filled the papers out. All I have left is the interviews from my Branch President and District President, which has turned out to be the most difficult part. My Branch President was willing to interview me over Skype, but he would like to go over the papers with me in person. The Branch President lives in Nanjing (two hours away), while the District President lives in Shanghai (eight hours away). Although I would be willing to skip weekend vacations and even walk to Nanjing, my programs requires that there has to be at least 3 girls to travel. So if I want to go visit either of the Presidents, I have to bring two other girls with me. Although they love me and would do anything for me, I know that none of them would want to do all that traveling (train rides are not exactly fun—they take a lot out of you) just to sit and wait outside a door. It’s a huge thing to ask and I hate being a burden like that.

For the past few weeks I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to figure something out. A week ago, some of the girls and I had a weekend trip to visit the Yellow Mountains and I was able to figure out a way to visit Nanjing on the way back, but at the last second it didn’t work out. Right now I am in Yuanshao on my week-long vacation and on the train ride here there was no direct route so we had a two hour layover in Nanjing—perfect I thought! The District President wasn’t able to make it, but I made plans to meet with the Branch President and go over all my paperwork. When I got to the train station I found out that my train was delayed an hour. I borrowed someone’s phone and called the Branch President to arrange for a later time. If we went fast, then I was sure that there could still be enough time. Then my train was delayed another half hour. Then the train took over two hours instead of the normal hour and a half. We seriously had to run to catch our other train and I never got to see the Branch President at all. Also, I was not able to locate another phone so I couldn’t call him to tell him what happened. I felt so bad.

When I got on the train, I got into my sleeper, and just started crying. I was just so frustrated and discouraged how hard it has been to finish my papers and I’m still nowhere near done. I was so jealous of all my friends in the States who could just walk down the street to visit their Bishop and could get their papers done very quickly. In fact, we all started on them about the same time, but they all have their calls by now. I was ready to just give up and wait till I got home in December to finish everything. I was sick of all the stress and worry and I wanted to spend that time in China having fun. I let myself have a weak moment and then I promised myself that no matter what I would keep moving forward. I would figure out a way and get my papers done. Even if I am not able to meet with the District President till the day I leave on the plane home (but please don’t let it take that long).

So that’s kind of where I am at now with my mission papers. I’m just praying that something will work out, but I just haven’t figured it out yet. I am so eager to get my papers in already, but apparently the Lord is teaching me patience. And you know what? That’s okay. I am still going on a mission, but a few weeks later than I hoped isn’t a big deal.

Wish me luck? :)