A Day In The Life Of A Future Missionary

Well things are going mostly how I thought they would at this point. Christmas and New Years flew by so fast and now I only have 34 days left! Wow.. 34 days left what a reality check that is! Well with limited time left there is no time to waste! Today my dad and I went on an all day adventure. Not going to lie it was so fun to just spend some quality time with the guy that I have always looked up to he is truly my hero. I asked him if he would take the day off work to day because I had to get my shots and for anyone that knows me pretty well I am DEATHLY AFRAID OF SHOTS. They seriously make me cry every time without fail. So he generously got the day off work and we went to the bike shop to pick out the perfect bike for my mission and the funny thing was that due to being only 4 ft. and 11 inches tall I had two bikes to choose from because those were the only womens specialized extra small bikes in store, but it all worked out because I loved the first one I saw. (: Then we went to the flag store to get a NC flag for pictures in a couple weeks, next we journeyed to the DMV to get my driving record and dang that place was just full of life. After all of those exciting stops we headed to the dentist and I came out of the dentist very disappointed. Back in November I went to a dentist that said my wisdom teeth would be fine for my whole mission but this dentist says I need them taken out before I leave and you all know how dentist offices are totally booked the first of the year, so I have to schedule 3 dentist appointments and get my wisdom teeth out this month... yay...talk about STRESSFUL. Not going to lie I'm not too excited to be drugged up half of this month. Can't forget to  mention that they said I needed my wisdom teeth taken out and I a 19 year old girl (pathetic I know) started to cry because I'm deathly of shots and the dentist etc. Though today was crazy I know that everything happens for a reason and that the best is to come.
Well that's a day in the life of a future missionary.. crazy but needed.

A Decision That Will Change My Life Forever(:

    As I was growing up I was always a pretty happy girl, optimistic for the future but I never once saw a mission in my future. I always sang the song "I hope they call me on a mission" but I always thought of boys when singing that particular song and I always thought yes a mission would be cool but it's simply not for me. 

In the summer of 2k14, right after I had graduated, I was not sure what I wanted to do with the future. I could go to school or work, or go on a mission but I had no idea what was the right decision for me. With hope that it would guide my decisions I decided to get my Patriarchal Blessing and as I got there the Patriarch asked me if I was planning to go on a mission and with out even thinking twice I told him no, and that it wasn't something I wanted to do. As the summer came a mission was not really at the top of the list of things I wanted to do with my life but  I decided to attend a Missionary Training Camp that was put on by the stake. I had wonderful experiences at this camp, my eyes were definitely opened, and I could feel the power of missionary work  but I still felt insecure about it all and thought that even if I decided it was something I wanted to do I would be incapable of it.

      As August came I had to decide what I was going to do. I decided that I would just focus on college and I officially decided that I WAS NOT going to go on a mission and that I would just go to school and support all of my friends that were on missions. (When I say all my friends I mean ALL my friends considering the fact that all my friends are guys and they had all already left or where leaving soon.) 

      We are now in the last week of August and I am starting college, which terrified me, and I had to say goodbye to my best friend! Oh I may have forgot to mention there is a boy.. a very special boy..(: His name is Alec and he left on his mission to the Philippines on August 27th 2 days after I started college. Anyways.. though most of the people I knew moved out for college I decided to stay at home due to having 2 jobs that were within a mile of my house and I was only home to sleep which would make it ridiculous to pay lots of money to sleep somewhere else. College was nothing like I expected though I loved the freedom generals are BEYOND boring, I had not made any new friends, and I constantly found myself thinking that there was something more I needed to be doing. As I was hitting the middle of the semester I realized that I would be 19 shortly and a mission was constantly coming to mind time after time. 

       It is now October, Conference was coming and I was going crazy having all of these questions about if I should go on a mission.  I knew I had to rely on conference to answer the questions and concerns I had. Alec's parents had generously invited me over for conference and the first session was over and we were waiting for conference to come on again. As we all sat at the table I finally had to say something about my thoughts concerning a mission because I hadn't talked to anyone about it and all my thoughts were being held in and someone had to know. I expressed to his parents how I had been thinking about going on a mission a lot lately but the Lord was not answering my prayers directly so I was very confused. They explained to me that the Lord has his own timing and we must be patient. As conference came back on we were all on the coach cuddled up in blankets and I at this point was a little discouraged because we were at the last session of conference and I still hadn't gotten an answer, but after I had heard the first words of the session coming on I knew my life would be changed forever. 

   Elder Carlos A. Godoy was one of the first speakers in the session and he started his talk with the following words... " All of us have experienced or will yet experience moments of great decision in our lives. Should I pursue this career or that one? Should I serve a mission? Is this the right person for me to marry?" 

After I heard these words Alec's mom looked at me at the exact same time I looked at her and I knew without a doubt what the Lord wanted me to do. At this point all the confusion was gone and I knew what I had to do. This talk also talks about how we will have to make decisions in our lives that will be a great blessing to us but will not be easy. Elder Godoy addresses the fact that we are going to have to be prepared for things that are not easy and that we need to be up to accepting the new challenges that come with these decisions. After that day I accepted to take the challenge of choosing something that was greater over something that was good and to be ready for what ever was to come with that decision. It may be hard but the blessings will be worth all the hardships!(: I know the Lord has a plan for all of us we just have to be patient with his timing.

More to come about this wonderful journey ahead of me!(:

-Abbie Elizabeth

    p.s. You should all read Elder Godoy's talk you won't be disapointed(:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/the-lord-has-a-plan-for-us

?lang=eng