The time is near....

24 days

In just TWENTY-FOUR days I can legally submit my mission papers.

The church guidelines allow sister missionaries to submit their papers 120 days (4 months) before their availability date. I turn 21 on March 18th and cannot believe that the time has come. I have been waiting for a long, long time to serve this mission.

Seven years ago, my mom and I started the countdown.

However, I have really been waiting even longer.

Jesus Christ entrusted me with sacred responsibilities and one of those was to serve a full time mission. I chose that before coming to Earth and I am so excited to fulfill that promise that I made. I KNOW Heavenly Father is preparing people right now for me to find when I arrive and He has been for some time now.

I am extremely nervous. At the same time, I am so incredibly excited.

I have been making the finalizing preparations before I leave.

I have put MUCH thought and consideration into these plans and have been thinking about them for quite some time. Those plans involve me completing this Fall semester at BYU, then moving back home to Idaho with my family for a few months until my birthday. That means I would have to sell my housing contract and request deferment from school until I return in the fall of 2013. That means choosing a mission over marriage for now.

Logic would say that I should attend another semester of school, since I can't leave until March anyway, and the winter semester ends in April. Plus, no one knows when they'll be called to leave. I could be called in May or June and "waste" that time that I could have been in school. I have spoken with academic advisers about deferments, and they have all counseled me to register for and attend the winter semester. Despite my explanation and plans, their main point always goes back to, "You never know when you'll be called to leave. What happens if you don't leave until June?" The Riv would say that it is incredibly difficult to sell a contract mid semester or school year. Friends would say that I am crazy to go on a mission, and NOT get married.

Nevertheless, Heavenly Father has a miraculous hand in our lives if we will just allow ourselves to see that. I know that my husband will be around when I get back (and he better be ready to get married). I have already sold my contract to a young lady coming from Brazil to learn English. The Riviera has secured everything and a miracle took place.

It is very true, that I COULD be called in May or June. However, I KNOW that I will be called as soon as I have my birthday. Heavenly Father has given me the revelation and guidance that I need to fulfill His plan.

So I am taking huge leaps of faith. Faith in the Plan. Faith in the Priesthood, and the revelation that comes through it. Faith in the revelation that I have received through the Holy Ghost. Faith that Heavenly Father knows better than I.

This semester of school has been the best yet. I absolutely LOVE my roommates. I LOVE the members of my ward and the Bishopric. I LOVE my calling as Relief Society President and the women that I work with. I LOVE all of my classes, my intramural flag football team, and everything about this semester.

I see two ways to look at it:

1. Why would Heavenly Father ask me leave on a mission when everything here is so perfect?

2. Heavenly Father loves me so much and has given me a perfect ending to the final chapter before my mission.

I know the second way to be true. He is also giving me the opportunity to spend time at home with my family before I leave on my mission. When I come back everything will change drastically, and I won't be able to come home much after I'm married.

"Faith and fear cannot reside in the same heart."

Here is to the faith that I have chosen to exercise in Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. I will not fear, but embrace the exciting responsibilities and blessings that lie before me and trust the plan.

I will complete my interviews with the bishop and stake president during Thanksgiving and submit my papers the first week of December. I hope to get my call before my family and I leave for our Christmas vacation to Disneyland a few weeks later.

And I trust that I will be called to leave shortly after my birthday.

Every time I talk about my mission or look at my mission papers, I get a burst of excitement and love.

I am really going.

The time is near.