My Mission Call

Posted by Braden

It happened! It finally happened! My call came! It finally came! And I cannot stop smiling!

Before I say where I'm going and when, there are a few things you have to know:


1) My brother gets home from his mission in Taiwan on May 25. As soon as my brother and I were old enough to do the math, we figured that we might just barely miss each other between our two missions. We corresponded about availability dates throughout this past year, trying to figure out what would be perfect. I didn't want to have to wait too long to leave, but I wanted to see my brother. There are typically a few weeks between your availability date and your report date, but it's not always the same length of time.

Finally, we decided (via e-mail) that a May 14 availability date would be perfect. It was most likely that I wouldn't have to report for at least a few weeks after that, and we'd be able to see each other, but it wouldn't be too far into the summer. Then over Christmas break, when I was filling out my papers, I made a comment like, "I'm so anxious to go!" to which one of my parents replied, "Well, you are 19. You can set your availability date for whenever you want." And then I was like, "You know, why not? I'm dying to go soon. I'm setting my date for May 1, and if Travis and I don't get to see each other, I won't like it, but I'll survive."

I didn't mention the change in plans to him, but then he asked, so I had to tell him about the switch. I really considered moving the date back a week or so, closer to May 14—what's one more week before reporting compared to having the whole family together for one week in four years? But May 1 just felt right. I thought about it a lot, prayed about it a lot, and it just felt right, so I kept it.


2) Every pre-missionary responds to the inevitable question, "So where would you like to go on your mission?" at least once in his life with, "Wherever the Lord needs me." And it's true, that's where I wanted to go. But I suspect that every one of those boys and girls also thinks in his or her head at least once, "I'll go wherever, but wouldn't it be especially fun to go to _____."

Well, I had one of those places. For as long as I can remember, when people said, "I know that you're not supposed to pick favorites, but IF you did get to pick where you would like to go, what would you choose?" I always responded with this country. When my uncle came home from a mission to this country a number of years ago, I remember thinking, "Wow—that'd be perfect! I hope I go somewhere like that!" When everybody in my family wrote down where they thought I'd go, I secretly made my own guess, and it was this place.

This summer I found out that due to visa troubles, this mission was being closed to North American missionaries. I groaned just a little bit on the inside, but I knew that I was going to get called to wherever I was supposed to go anyway. Then last week, after my papers were already in, I heard from an RM that the mission had recently opened back up again to missionaries from North America.

I was so excited! I went home and sent my parents an email with the title, "______ is open again!" since they've always known that I have a sweet spot for it. "I don't expect to go there, of course," I told them, "but it is nice that it's an option again, at least!"

A week ago my key chain broke, so I told myself that I'd just buy a new one in a week or two of the flag of whatever country I'm going to (United States included). Two days ago, when I was in the Bookstore, I took a look at all the flags, and naturally my eyes searched first for this country's flag. After I found it, I mentally slapped my wrist for showing preference, and went on to my next class.


3) I asked anybody with mission-call experience about when they thought I should expect to receive mine. There were just too many opinions for me to know anything for sure, but I was pretty positive that my call would show up sometime in the middle of the week, most likely on a Wednesday. This past Wednesday, a boy who sent in his papers a week before me received his call. I figured that meant I still had at least a week to go, so I stopped thinking about it. Then this morning I found out from my grandparents, who have a contact in the Missionary Department, that my call was mailed out yesterday! All of my focus disappeared instantly.

I came home from classes at 1:30 p.m., hoping to find the call, but no. I went to the temple for an hour and a half and came back expecting to find my call, since our mail usually comes by 2:30 p.m., but no. The mail had come, but it wasn't there. I went to my 4 p.m. class, content to wait until tomorrow to begin checking compulsively again. I got two phone calls during class that I didn't answer; I checked my voice mail as soon as class ended, and one of the messages was from the Helaman Halls Central Building. They said they had my mission call there! I was rather confused, since I live in Heritage Halls, but they had my call and I wanted it!

Unfortunately, I was already on my way to meet up with somebody for dinner, and we were supposed to meet up in five minutes! I rushed to dinner; we ate and talked for about an hour. I had to fight so hard to keep myself from jumping up and sprinting to the central building. And then I got the letter; it was about 6 p.m. by this time.

I tried really hard not to look at the postage; I've heard varying stories on what it means, and I didn't want to speculate. I wanted to open my call with my ward, but I also needed to pick a time when all of my family back home could be on the phone, so I chose 8:30 p.m. I texted all the people whom I'd promised to tell when I got my letter and passed the word around the ward.

Then I tried, failing miserably, to study for my test tomorrow. I couldn't concentrate for more than maybe 30 seconds at a time. "Two hours left . . . 1.5 hours . . . 1.3 hours . . . 1.15 hours . . . 1.12 hours . . . 1.11 hours . . . is time moving at all?!"

Another boy in the ward was scheduled to open his call at 8 p.m. The ward showed up, and he read that he was going to Brazil, and his report date was May 24! That scared me a little: if he put his papers in on the same day as me, and he's reporting on May 24, odds are pretty good that I'll report on the same day, and I'll miss my brother by one day!"

The last 30 minutes were by far the longest. I went for a walk to burn the time. And then 8:30 p.m. finally came.

I called up my family back home, hushed everyone down, my sister started recording, and I opened up the letter:

Dear Elder Hancock:

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the RUSSIA SAMARA mission!
(my thoughts: "I CAN'T BELIEVE I ACTUALLY GOT CALLED TO RUSSIA!")
You should report to the Missionary Training Center at Provo, Utah on Wednesday, 3 June 2009!
("I can't believe that I'm going to Russia, AND I get to see Travis before I leave!")

Then everybody clapped and cheered and congratulated me and I couldn't do anything but smile, thank them, smile, reread the letter, smile, and find where Samara is in Russia, and smile some more.

I'm not going to get any more studying done tonight. All I want to do is look up Russia, Samara, the Russian language, my application for a U.S. passport, my mission boundaries, stories from people who went to my mission, the list of supplies I'm going to need, etc. WOW, what a rush! It turns out that it is the exact same mission where my uncle went! I can't wait to hear stories, see pictures, and start learning all about where I'm going to be living and serving for the next two years!

I know that I would have been thrilled no matter where I was called. It's still so amazing to me that we 19-year-old boys are allowed to be called to such important roles in the grand scheme of everything! And I cannot wait to share the gospel with all of the good people in Russia! It's made me so happy! If I can just help them see how much they have to gain, how much easier and happier their lives will be with the gospel, they'll know that it's worth it. And even if you told me that not a single person I talk to will join the Church in all 24 months that I'm there, I'd still go in a heartbeat! This is going to be a wonderful two years!

And wow—to be called to the place I've always wanted to go AND see my brother before I leave AND not have to wait any longer to get my call—I'm certainly on cloud nine right now, and I'm not coming down anytime soon!