The Delay

So there was a lot of waiting involved in me starting my papers.I have known that I wanted to go on a mission since I was about 17 and although I have questioned it a billion times in between then and now, I really do have a strong conviction to be going out and preaching the gospel. About a year and a half ago, when I was 19, I had the opportunity to move to Washington State to live with my sister while her husband was deployed. I was very thrilled about this new adventure that would bring me to a place I had never been before and show me a whole different kind of life. The plan was to make the 23 hour drive over about a week of time, surrounding General Conference weekend in October of 2012. So we started out and we stopped in Provo, Utah at one point to visit two of my sisters and their families. Sunday morning we were heading after a nice few days visit with them. As we are saying our goodbyes and I am kissing and loving on my little nephews my phone starts blowing up with text messages and phone calls. I look through the dozens of text messages I have and they all say things like "Come home!!!! You can go on your mission!!!" or "You don't need to move to Washington come back!". The best one was "Did you just hear that????" I got about ten of those. Of course I hadn't "just heard that" because we weren't watching conference (something I now wish I hadn't done). So a midst reading all of these texts, I get a phone call from my brother and all he says is, "so what are you going to do?" assuming I knew what in the world was going on. After I explain to him that I have no idea what anyone is talking about he fills me in the announcement that President Monson gave to lower the age requirements for missionaries. I was ASTONISHED. and also a little perturbed that it hadn't come 6 months earlier before this plan to move to Washington had even come about. I could feel every one's eyes on me, waiting for me to say "Let's go home, I am going on a mission!", but I couldn't. I really really really wanted to. But I had prayed so long and hard about this decision to move and I knew that I was doing the right thing. My sister needed me, and, although I didn't know it yet, I desperately needed the experiences that I was going to have over the next 11 months. So I let out a sigh and said, "Well it's too late to turn back now, let's go before I change my mind!" So I loaded up in my car, my parents in theirs, and we drove. I will be honest, I cried a little as I turned on the radio and listened to the rest of conference. I was so sad to not be joining the thousands of Sister Missionaries, but I wouldn't trade ANYTHING for next 11 months of my life.