Called To Serve!

The call has come!! I had waiting very patiently up to yesterday morning around 11 o'clock. Our mail usually comes right around 11 or 11:30 so I kept looking down the street to see where the mailman was. Finally, after trying to distract myself for a few minutes, there was that blessed white goofy looking mail truck, and the mailman was holding my big white envelope......shoot, I just barely realized I didn't take a picture....sorry! Anyway, I called up Garrick, and my parents called my oldest sister Amberly and I began to open the envelope. The first word I saw was "Tagalog" ....."Holy cow!" I said, and then I began from the beginning...

Dear Sister Whitley,

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 Philippines Laoag Misison. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months.

You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, October 6, 2010. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Tagalog language....

and then I continued to read my very own letter from our dear Prophet Thomas S. Monson.

WOW!! The Philippines! I wasn't expecting that. Then again, what missionary ever expects to go where they're called. Tagalog....my Mom says it's a lot like Spanish with a Chinese influence. Maybe I'll learn Spanish and Chinese after I get Tagalog down!
My parent lived in the Philippines for 3 years. My Dad was in the Air Force. Amberly was already born and Amanda and Weston were born there, so I've always had an interest in the Philippines, now I guess I get to live it for myself.

Yesterday everyone kept asking me if I was excited. Well...yeah. That's like the coolest mission ever!! ....But then there's Garrick. He was pretty quite on the phone, he said it was so exciting, but we'd be seeing each other later on that night so he didn't stay on the line very long. All day I just kept thinking about it...obviously. It took me a long time to get the texts out and to read all the ones coming in with congratulations. Everyone's very supportive. It's nice to know I not only have the Lord behind me but also so many amazing family members and friends.

Garrick and I had a great time together last night. We always do! We went to the Health Food store, went to Wal Mart to try to find some sweet silver aviator sunglasses for him...no luck. Then we got some food at Rumbi, went and saw Tomakah and his girlfriend's family. Then we went to Farr's so I could get him some free ice cream, and then we drove up the canyon. We came to a really cool little spot. We climbed on top of this water drainage thing...if we were smart we would've had a blanket, but it was cool to see all the stars and we had a really good talk. I can talk to him so easily. We talked for a long time. I was totally honest with him...it's only been a month but the mission just doesn't seem that exciting to me when he's around. He is so excited for my mission...he knows that missions are great experiences and that I could do a lot of good. He doesn't want to be the reason that I miss out on it, especially if it weren't to work out between us. But he said he would miss me a lot, and he isn't excited about me leaving, but he just loves missions. October 6 is kind of a long time away....really 4 1/2 months isn't long, but sort of...depending how you look at it. But basically we both trust in the Lord. I know that God just wants me to be happy. He has a plan for me. Right now I'm not 100% sure whether it involves the Philippines or Garrick....or both. I need to figure that out, but really I'm not worried about it. I will do what I'm supposed to do, and I'll love whatever I do. I am going to study and learn and keep living as I should, and the Lord will let happen what's supposed to happen.