Lilly's Mission Call!

It really happened!  After all these months of talking and preparation and paperwork and shopping and guessing where she'd go, this amazing girl got her mission call!

As her Dad is the Branch President, one of the perks was that we were able to track the progress of the call after it was submitted.  We were expecting it this past week on possibly Thursday or soon thereafter.  It didn't come that day or Friday, so we were pretty sure it would be Saturday.  After a few trips to the mailbox, Ethan came home and said, "Start inviting people over!"  And there it was.

It was so tempting - probably more so for us than for Lilly.  We tried to get her to just open it right then, but after seeing her Dad holding it up to the light, she promptly hid it from all of us.

 

Lilly wanted to invite a few friends over, so we planned to open it at 7 p.m. around the campfire.

I had prepared myself, I thought, for her to go anywhere in the world, but as you can hear from my reaction in the video as she read where she would serve, I apparently hadn't considered THAT place!

Oh my goodness!  I think I'm still in shock - not only for where she's going, but for what her primary assignment is!  She has felt led to get her RN, and now she realizes how the Lord knows us each individually, what our talents are, and where we are needed and can use those talents.  She was hoping to speak Spanish and go on a foreign mission, and hardly dared hope to think she may get all three of her desires in one mission! 

 

There was lots of congratulations and hugging and smiling.  Then I had to text some friends who were waiting on pins and needles to hear where she was going.

 

After she submitted her paperwork, but before her call arrived, we had a contest to see if anyone could guess where she was going.  We had our entire map filled with guesses, but here is the one that won:

That Mel Gunnell must have a sixth sense when it comes to these things!

 

Lilly is busy now completing all the things she has to do before she leaves on Oct. 28th like getting a passport, some more immunizations, Spanish scriptures, flea repellent (thanks Heidi!), etc.

 

And I am just trying to figure out what reality is going to be without her.

Olivia, in her sweet 5 year-old mind, is just beginning to get an understanding that Lilly's not going to be here for a long time.  She has already shed some tears since then.

Oh we love that Lilly so!