Provo Temple

On January 24, I went through the temple for the first time. It was a beautiful, amazing, and marvelous experience - one that I will never forget. Although I was so nervous, I was excited to finally enter the temple and make those sacred covenants that I have been working toward for years. As I walked toward the temple, I couldn't help but hum "I love to see the temple" Ahh! I was so excited! :)

As I went through the temple, I tried to focus on what I was feeling rather than trying to remember and understand everything that was going on. Whoever gave me that advise, thank you!!! The Spirit was so strong and I realized why it is so important  to be completely worthy to enter the temple. We are in the house of the Lord! No unclean thing can or in this case, should dwell in his presence!

I had several favorite moments...but I will only share a few of them here. First was when I presented my temple recommend to a temple worker at the front desk. The kind older gentleman took my hand, shook it gently and smiled. He looked at my recommend and then at me, saying, "Welcome to the temple Sister Donaldson. We've been waiting for you!" My heart was full of joy as I thought about those words. All of my life I've been working on being worthy to enter the temple and now I knew I was ready and worthy! I also thought about the love our Father in Heaven and Savior have for us and how happy they must be when we choose to take the steps necessary to enter the temple and make sacred covenants.

Another one of my favorite moments was when a temple worker, my mom, and I were sitting in the endowment room waiting for the session to start. Behind me, I heard the doors open and people started to walk in. I turned around and saw Dad, my brother Jared, Sister-in-law Haley, Aunt Chris, Uncle John, Aunt Rebecca, and my bestie Emily walk in. It was beautiful! Eternal families (and friendships) rock!

The last favorite moment was at the end of the session when I walked into the Celestial room. As I turned the corner, there was my family, lined up, waiting there for me to arrive. Tears of joy started to flow as I thought to myself, "I made it! And they're all here waiting for me!" Perhaps that was the most beautiful thing I had ever experienced. Let me repeat that! Perhaps that was the most beautiful thing I had ever experienced. Many hugs were shared and many tears were shed.

I love the temple! I love my Savior! I love the blessings that come from going to the temple and I'm excited to continue going and learning.

D&C 109 : 22 "And we ask thee, Holy Father, that they servants may go forth from this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have charge over them."  The temple is amazing! :)

The Never Ending To-Do List

May I just comment about how long it takes to set up a blog?!? Phew! What a task!!! It would help if I wasn't so indecisive about the little things. I'll admit, being OCD about stupid stuff very inconvenient at times.

Anyways, setting up this blog was just one of the MANY things I need to do before I leave in just over a month! After receiving my call, I had to control my urge to start preparing for my mission. Some big events were coming up in the near future: midterms, a marching band trip to Hawaii to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Thanksgiving, two very substantial research papers, and finals week. My school schedule demanded attention and I was determined to finish strong! And I did! I got awesome grades, including a solid A in my Tissue Biology class (nailed it!).

The shopping sprees began just after finals. My first purchase? A pair of Dansco shoes. Second purchase? Envelopes. Third? I don't remember anymore.

What a blessing it was to be able to start shopping during all of the Christmas sales! Being the super frugal person I am, I took advantage of it! I bought skirts that were normally $50 for $15 each. Bingo! Shirts for 50% off at Kohls, coats for 75% off at Old Navy, etc etc etc! I couldn't help but feel like those sales were just for me. :)

Christmas came and I was bombarded by mission gifts. I love them all and I'm so grateful to have a loving and supportive family. My sister-in-law Haley has quite the sense of humor and gave me a bag full of knee-high nylons that she never used on her mission. Hahaha...too funny. She's great and I appreciate her support and advice as I continue to prepare for my mission. She has some marvelous tips that I am finding super useful! Haley is the best. :)

One morning, I started to write down everything that I needed to do. I kept writing and writing and writing until I had everything I could think of on the list. It ended up being a page and a half long. That was perhaps the most intimidating thing I've ever seen! But I'm crossing those things off one at a time and trying my hardest not to bite off more than I can chew in a day.

Fortunately over the last week, my to-do list has finally started to get a little shorter (even though I continue to add to it!) I've completed my immunizations, sent my driving records and paperwork to my mission president, turned in my BYU deferment stuff, bought my new scriptures, books, and journals, have most of the clothes I need, and am starting to collect all of the little things like medicine and tooth brushes. Its coming along! I need luggage....because I want to start packing ASAP.

I am so blessed to have such an angel mother who is so willing to come shopping with me on occasion, give her opinion on what she thinks would work best, and help me think through what I will really need before reaching Indiana. She also cries randomly when we're doing stuff. She says she doesn't know why....but I do. I love her and will miss her too. She's the best mom that a girl could ask for. Someday, I hope to be half the person that she is.

The Call

It's not that I'm impatient....I just don't like waiting....especially for things that have an impact on the next 18 months of my life. :) Both my bishop and stake president told me that the calls are assigned on Fridays, mailed on Mondays, and usually arrive on Wednesday. I did the math, I should get my call in ten days. That meant I'd get my call on October 26, right? Right! Except, I was wrong.

My bishop (did I mention I have the greatest bishop in the world?) texted me on Monday afternoon and told me that the call had not yet been assigned, so I would have to wait another week. Guess what?!? I cried. Yes, I cried (I'm such a wuss!). I thought to myself, "Another week? I could be dead in a week" (I don't know why, but that thought seemed logical at the time). Haha, maybe they had forgotten to update my call? I was desperate! So, I came home early that Wednesday to check the mail....just in case. I opened the mail box and it was full of junk mail. I took out the mail, said something mean to it, shoved it back in the mailbox, and walked away. So, the waiting game continued. Where would I go? I had no clue.

Being the crazy person that I am, I carried little slips with me to class that had two lines - one for a stateside guess, another for a foreign guess. I forced my nerdy biology friends, my other friends not of the nerdy type, and anyone else who felt so inclined to fill them out. I told them that if they guessed it, I would treat them to Cafe Rio. Of course, if multiple people guessed it, I'd have to degrade their prize to something a little more affordable....perhaps a dollar frosty at Wendy's (I'm so cheap!).  If no one guessed it, my wallet wins. :) My lucky color guard girls had a sweet deal because they're super important to me - if no one guessed it, the person who guessed the closest gets Cafe Rio on me and the rest of them are welcome to come along, if they pay their own way. Yay Nicole, she guessed the closest! 

Anyways, a week later, my bishop texted me that my call had been mailed and I should get it on Wednesday! I called some friends and family to tell them to I would be opening my call Wednesday at 7....because I just knew that it would be waiting for me when I got home from class the following day. The next day (Wednesday), I left campus at 11 and drove home, anxious to get the mail in less than an hour. Not even 5 minutes after walking in the door, my mom shouted to me that the mail man was driving down the street. When she pulled in front of our mail box, I walked to her, my hands outstretched like a little kid wanting cotton candy. She handed me a small stack of junk mail. My mission call was not there! I looked at her (probably in horror) and asked, "this is it?!" She gave the affirmative and then asked, "Were you expecting something?" I started to walk away, too disappointed to talk. And then I started to cry again. Yep....this crying spell required tissues though. Man, I'm such a wuss! 

My mom had to call all of my family (because I was a mess) and tell them that I wouldn't be opening my call until Sunday night because I would be LEAVING TOWN FOR THE NEXT 4 DAYS on Timpview's Band Tour. I knew that I would have to wait until Sunday to open my call (good heavens, that is a LONG time!)

Bless their hearts, my siblings and sister-in-law threatened to steal my call, steam it open, and sabotage it because they knew it would come while I was out of town. Although my mom thought them incapable of playing such a horrid trick on me, I knew better than that. We play practical jokes on each other all the time - hide each other's underwear on vacations, feed each other habanero pepper jack cheese, etc. I would not tolerate such behavior, so we asked our neighbor to take it from the mailbox on Thursday when it arrived and keep it until my dad got home. Hey, better safe than sorry! 

The drive home from Vegas seemed like an eternity. Each mile sign passed and I counted down the miles until we'd reach Provo. I was on the brink of throwing up.....I would be opening it in just a few hours. Once home (finally!), my dad handed it to me and I touched it for the very first time! My family started to show up and some of my closest friends (Linda, Lee, Anderson, Arielle, Callie, Hannah, Emily and Joe) came as well. Others could not make it because it was too short of notice and the men of my family fail at calling relatives to inform them of this stuff.

Obviously I was a nervous wreck....I was shaking, my heart was racing, I half-way listened to what people were saying, etc. I sat down and looked over to my right, looking for my call and the knife I had planned to cut it open with. No need for the knife! My dad had already torn my mission call open. WHAT?!? Why on earth would he do that? It was my envelope to open! I kinda joked that I should go reseal it. People laughed, but I was completely serious. How annoying! I took a breath and calmed myself down, "Its just an envelope, Becca. Get over it." 

I slid out the call and turned it over. It was addressed to me! From the office of the 1st Presidency! Craziness! And then.....I began to cry. I'm such a wuss!!! I read the letter out loud (still crying):

"Dear Sister Donaldson: You are hereby called to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." (I thought, "Okay, that's good. I hoped you would say that.") It continued, "You are assigned to labor in the India..." (I thought, "Holy Hannah! Not India! Oh, wait, there's more) "...[India]na Indianapolis Mission. (I thought, "Indiana?!?" I said it too. Just like that: "Indiana?!?") After about saying, "Indiana?!?" about ten times, I continued to read, "....You should report to the Provo MTC on February 15, 2012. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the English language."

I was so surprised! Indiana?!? After rewatching the video, I think it came across as a disappointed tone. Let me assure you, I was not disappointed. Only shocked....because I forgot Indiana existed. Indiana was one of the states I consistently forgot on the "50 state" quizzes in the 4th grade. I'll never forget it again. :) After getting over the shock of Indiana, it felt right immediately. I loved having everyone there that I love and care so much about. Hopefully it wasn't too awkward. I can be a pretty awkward person when I'm nervous, surprised, shocked, and thinking really hard. :) 

Phew! That was quite the blog post! Thanks for reading my novel, everyone (anyone?!?)! There's more to come soon. Probably with some of the things I've been thinking about and experiencing since receiving my call and beginning my official preparations.   

My Paper Process (start to finish!)

After over a year and a half of dreaming, wondering, praying, waiting, praying, getting scared, chickening out, praying, wondering, waiting, and finally realizing that I knew the answer all along, I started my papers. In my interview with Bishop Moon on September 1, 2011, I nervously expressed my desire to start my mission papers. To my great surprise (I don't know what I was expecting....), he grinned ear to ear, leaned his head back kinda laughing, and then leaned forward still grinning, smacked his hands on the table, and nearly shouted, "You are going to be AWESOME!" Haha, I was surprised about how excited he was about me going on a mission! I was so relieved! Then we continued to talk for a while about my concerns, his thoughts, impressions, etc. He helped set up my account (I was impressed that I remembered my baptism and confirmation date...May 23, 1998!), and after a great, long talk with him (sorry people who were waiting behind me!), I nearly skipped out of his office and to my car (her name is Lola). I drove to the west parking lot of the temple to calm myself down, gather my thoughts, and think about what had just happened. It was a great feeling.

I decided to tell my parents about my papers that night....they were happy for me. I think they had been expecting it would happen eventually. I started my papers that very night. With the hustle and bustle of my insane school schedule, my job at Timpview (I love that job and those girls so much!) and distractions galore, it took me a while to complete my papers. I didn't tell many people - I wanted to keep it on the down low...just in case I changed my mind or something. I immediately noticed greater adversity and resistance throughout my day, much of that I will attribute to the adversary. He knows our weaknesses and works on us consistently and gently. 2 Nephi 26 and 2 Nephi 28 teaches us that the devil leads people carefully, with a flaxen (weak) cord, slowly until he binds us and leads us to hell. Don't worry, I wasn't doing anything too sketchy! However, I would get distracted easily, be super unmotivated to study, I'd get confused, and doubt my decision to go. Luckily, things continued to fall into place...it was amazing to see the small tender mercies that began to flow freely. Those little miracles remind me that when we are diligently trying to do the right thing, we will be blessed! 

On October 3, I recorded in my journal: "Life is full of fun, rewarding, challenging, difficult, and amazing experiences! The thoughts that continue to weigh most heavily on my mind are those of a mission - they continue to work on me and motivate me to improve (thank you, Holy Ghost! Keep the purification juices coming!). After months of being fearful and scared of a mission, I have finally conquered it! Although those feelings sometimes slip into my mind, overall I am very excited! So excited in fact, that  I want to withdraw from all of my classes, turn in my papers, and leave in 2 weeks. I'd love that....but its awfully unpractical."

I finally turned in my papers on October 16. I was nearly sick because I was so dang nervous for my interview with my Stake President. Why? Because I'm a worry wart. The interview was fantastic. I won't go into details, but I left his office feeling so good! He is a man of God and is so in tune with the Spirit. I'm grateful to have such awesome priesthood leaders in my ward and stake. They're a bunch of spiritual studs! I am going to marry a man like that!!!!! 

Once again, I drove to and parked myself in my favorite parking spot in the most western lot of the temple and soaked it all in. The words of the primary songs, "I hope they call me on a mission" and "I love to see the temple" flowed through my head....super cheesy, I know. But it was so appropriate as I faced the temple and saw the missionaries walking around on the grounds taking pictures. :)

The next step? The waiting game...would it be a week and a half? Two? Wrong. To my horror, I had to wait 3 entire weeks to open my call....read my tales of junk in my mail box, dumb postmen, tears (yes, I cried....three times), band tour, threats of mission call steaming and sabotage, long drives home, and the contents of the envelope in my next blog post. *dun dun DUNNNN!!!!!*