Mission Call -

I went on an LDS mission over thirty years ago. The cost of a mission has changed –but not as much as you would think. Now all missionaries pay the same amount no matter where they go. The receiving of the mission call is an exciting event. First there are interviews and medical examinations. This is to make sure you’re spiritually and physically able to serve. Different than when I got my call – the application and submitting of the appropriate paper work is submitted online. Once it is submitted you can follow it step by step on the Internet – or at least your church leader can. Where does it stand – with the Bishop, now with the Stake President, now with the Church – assigned and it’s been sent? But receiving the actual call hasn’t changed at all over the last thirty years, well almost not at all. The call comes through the mail. When it says on the computer that it has been sent – chances are you will get it the next Wednesday. The excitement of getting the call is tremendous, where are you going to spend the next two years? This summer my son put in his papers to go on a mission. When I got my mission call you could tell if you were staying in the U.S. or going foreign just by looking at the postage – if you were going foreign there were more papers in the packet for visa’s, passport, etc, thus more postage. When the call was sent, we knew that our son would not be in town – he was working at a youth camp in the mountains. We had decided to take the call to him to be opened. To get the scoop I goggled to find out if you could still tell where you were going by the postage, there was a number of entries, most of which said you could still tell. One of these entries said that if it was over $1.57 it’s foreign. My nephew had just gotten his call two weeks before to Iowa, so I called my sister and asked if she still had the envelop – great what was the postage, $1.57. It was a hour drive to the camp and we had to get all the family together for the trek – so when his call came it was going to be four or five hours before he could open it. Most people don’t say where they want to go so they don’t seem disappointed. I was disappointed when I got my call, after being in the mission field it was the greatest and I loved my location but when I opened the call and found out I was going to a bordering state it was a let down. Maybe I could come home on weekends. What was the use - most of my friends wouldn’t be there, they were going to New Zealand – South America – Iceland, all over the world, but not in the same time zone. Not only was it a bordering state but they also told me to bring a sleeping bag – what was I going to be do, sleep out on an Indian reservation? Our son had been vocal that he wanted to learn a foreign language and go to another country. I hoped he wasn’t going to be disappointed. So when it came and I was the one that got it out of the mailbox – what was the postage? Dang - $1.57. I know that it would be all right in the long run and would be a great experience. I just hope it wasn’t Pocatello Idaho. Opening the call is kind of like Christmas, I hope the kids like their presents. There are 344 different missions in the world, so we had a contest to see who could guess the closest – of course I had a clue and knew it was in the states. When we got there he was excited, but also a little nervous – which is understandable since it was telling him where he was spending the next couple of years. His mother just hoped it wasn’t some place that made him eat insects or has a rebellion every couple of months. Well here we go – Argentina, Buenos Aires South. Wow! That’s along ways away. He got what he wanted and our ten-year-old daughter actually picked the right country. I guess the postage thing doesn’t work – what a great experience for the family.