Called to Serve Him

With 478 hours, less than 20 days, until I start my work as a servant of the Lord, I thought I'd get this blog started up a bit. I've never been very fond of blogs. They just feel kind of girly. . . But since my wonderful mother is going to be the one mainly running this, I figured I could look past that. :)

I've been called to serve in the France Paris mission, French speaking. I leave August 7th, which seemed forever away when I opened my call 117 days ago. But it sure is coming fast now. The area in which I'll be serving covers essentially the top half of France, all of Luxembourg, and the bottom half of Belgium. I'll spend 6 weeks in the MTC in Provo, and I'll hopefully finally make it to France sometime around the 20th of September.

I took French for 4 years in high school. It's been a while now, so I don't remember much, but I'm sure it will come back quickly, especially with the help of the Spirit. I definitely realize already that I should've paid just a little more attention in those classes though... Thanks to Monsieur Asay, Monsieur Johnson, and Madame McFarland for all of their efforts in teaching and pushing me through those four years, and to Elder Carson Hatch (who is currently serving in some obscure part of Africa that's hard to keep track of) for making me stick with it.

There currently isn't a temple within my mission boundaries, although one is being planned about 10 minutes outside of Paris. The French people are pretty generally opposed to it, and my guess is that it will be finished just about the time that I come home.

20 days does not feel like enough time to get ready. I still feel so young. That whole "when I have grown a foot or two thing" still has yet to happen. . . Maybe they meant it spiritually. Either way, like I'm sure most missionaries feel at some point, I feel unprepared. Not that I don't have a testimony of this gospel or a desire to share this perfect message with others. I just feel like I'm still too young and naive to be spreading such an important message. But I know that the Lord will give me the strength I need to carry out and fulfill this calling. I know that as I am obedient and dive into the work that the Spirit will be with me and my companion and that we will be able to fulfill our purpose. I'm so excited to get out there and learn and serve and share. I'm going to miss my friends and family so much, but I'm so very thankful for all the support they're giving me.

The church is true.