How did I do this week? Sept 25, 2024

This week started with traveling and ended with a mission call.

I traveled for work the last week. Whenever I do, it is hard on me and my family. Someone always gets sick. My wife always gets overwhelmed. I’m sure most families go through similar things.

This was a little unique because I was able to visit my brothers in Indianapolis, IN while traveling. I’ll need to come back to that story. And this time while traveling, it was my wife that got sick. I didn’t win any brownie points this time around. She was not pleased about her husband being gone while she was sick. Upon returning, my daughter received her mission call.

Last Sunday Madilynn traveled to California with a few friends. They were going to the beach and Disneyland. We knew her mission call could come any day, maybe even while at Disneyland. How would that be? Opening your call in front of Cinderella’s Castle, symbolizing where “dreams come true.” We joked about it but didn’t really want that to happen. And, anymore, Disney is more of a sign of a corrupt world than childhood dreams. I’m going to stop there before my language becomes too coarse.

She was returning on Thursday, I was leaving on Thursday. We were basically both in the airport at the same time. She was returning and I was flying out. The only problem was, we were in different airports. Our trips made it so we didn’t see each other for over a week. This explanation is getting too long.

I had traveled to Indianapolis, IN on a recruiting trip for my work. While there I was able able to visit my brothers in the evenings. I tried to write a few blog posts but ended up only starting them and never finishing one. As I was starting this post I saw I had 6 started that I didn’t finish. It was a little hard to pull things together while traveling this time. Maybe sometime over the next week, I’ll finish a few of them.

Anyhow, I returned on Monday. That evening Madilynn was looking in her mission portal for a Missionary Email Address. She heard this was a sign her call was coming the next day. Well, nothing showed up. Then she checked again Tuesday morning, and nothing showed up. I went to work on Tuesday expecting her call not to come until the following week. I’m not sure why I believed that “sign.” But, it was not a true sign of a call being issued. The true sign was the call actually showing up.

I must be honest, she was scared to death. So she decided we would read it at 3 PM and then have an opening and reading at 8:30 with friends and family. I picked up Isaiah from school and headed home at three to read it. We were all super excited. She was terrified. I’m not sure what was going through her mind. But, I don’t think she wanted to be embarrassed and didn’t want the pressure of a surprise on top of everyone looking at her. It was too much for her at the moment. There is some insecurity there.

As we sat around the kitchen table she read her call… Independence Missouri Mission. We all started to cry. What a special mission to go to. None of us even considered it. Not one person had picked it. She had no idea why it was special. I explained that this is where so many church history sites are. This is where all things will wrap up in the last days.

Liberty Jail
Hawn’s Mill
The Temple Site
Adam-Ondi-Ahman
Jackson County Missouri
And… Where ZION will be built in the last days.

I still don’t think she realizes the significance. Either way, she will. She cried more. I think it was a happy place, stateside, and a cool place to get called. Check, Check, Check. And I think she felt the Holy Ghost witness that it was where she was supposed to go. At that point, she felt confident enough that she could read it in front of everyone.

As a father, I can’t even begin to express how excited I am for her.

I had gotten up Tuesday morning and while I was walking around in the morning, I had the impression to fast. So I did. I told Heavenly Father I didn’t want to but I would. I didn’t know why. When I found out later in the day that Marilynn’s call had come, I was grateful I had listened and followed. I had a number of instances that day where the Holy Ghost filled my heart completely. And, I was glad I had been fasting.

Now back to my brothers in Indiana. No, I’m not going to say anything about them at this point. A few family members in Indiana are struggling. I was grateful to be able to see them. Maybe I’ll write about the experience in another post. I need to be thoughtful about what I say and how I say it, so I will wait.

So, how did I do this last week?

I would say I did OK.