Part 1: Deciding to Go on a Mission

Remember that day? General Conference 2012, when President Monson stood up and made this announcement:

I don't think ANYONE who heard this will ever be able to forget that day! 

I can remember how it made me feel. You know that feeling when you bite your cheek really hard on accident and everything seems to go in slow motion for a minute, your ears ring, all noise around you kind of fades into the background, I didn't hear one talk during that session, that was what happened to me. 

I WAS 19 YEARS OLD. I could go have gone a mission right then if I wanted to. My world literally got rocked by this announcement, hence the Facebook status I posted in between sessions:

It really did. Suddenly, my only current major options in life weren't to just "go to school and find a hot  husband" but in that moment my life choices became, "go to school, find a hot husband, serve a mission". I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I knew it was something I needed to pray about, but I was scared of the answer I might get.

In between conference, the kid I was dating at the time called me on the phone (while I was bawling in my room, overwhelmed by the announcement) to BEG me not to go. I told him it was something I had to pray about and from what it sounded like he threw his phone across the room, onto something soft I hope, and I could hear him saying "nooooooooooooooooooo". Needless to say, this relationship didn't work out.

After my emotions chilled out a bit, I was able to somewhat get back to feeling normal. I was not planning on going on a mission, at least my stubborn self at the time wanted to believe that. This email shared between me and my BFF Maddy who was in China at the time, showed how I was feeling about the whole thing.

I also knew that there was a high chance of my very best friend getting married, I wanted to be present in one of the best moments of her life. That was important to me. But I knew, deep down, I was supposed to serve a mission. This is when in my head I made the goal of "after Maddy's wedding" (which could have meant summer, but potentially not) if I were to serve. This decision was made almost subconsciously October 2012.

To be continued...........
Read Part 2, here.