Called to Serve

Here's a little excerpt from my farewell talk, talking about how I decided to serve a mission. I'm so grateful that I made that decision and I'm excited to serve the wonderful people of Washington and Oregon.

I’d like to share an experience I’ve had with prayer and how it has brought me closer to my Father in Heaven and my Savior. A little over a year ago an announcement to lower the age that sister missionaries could serve was made in General Conference. My friends and I were so surprised by this announcement. I was out at BYU living in the freshmen dorms and this was all people were talking about. Tons of girls in my hall said that they would go on a mission. I was excited and I wanted to go too. I was very set on leaving right as I turned nineteen, but the more I thought about it the more it didn’t feel right. I knew I had to make a decision. I kept praying to God to tell me what to do, but it didn’t feel like he was answering. I came to the decision that a mission wasn’t for me and that I would continue going to school. I prayed to God again, telling Him my decision. I said that if this wasn’t the right path for me that He needed to let me know before it was too late to change my mind. A few months past and it came time for apartment shopping. I was going to room with one of my friends from my hall. We looked at a dozen or so apartments and spent hours comparing and talking about where we wanted to live. We were having such a hard time deciding and to me, I felt like I couldn’t live in any of the apartments. Then one weekend in February we went to the temple with my friend Chris who was about to leave on his mission. I felt so much peace in the temple and I enjoyed being there. The next day was Sunday. I was sitting in Sacrament when an idea came into my head. If I stayed for the spring term and another fall semester, I would be able to finish the language I was studying and finish the GE requirements for my major. I would then be able to serve my mission in the winter. I was so excited with this idea. I had never thought of it before. Things began to make sense. My friend who was going to be my roommate talked to me later that day. I didn’t know how to tell her that we couldn’t be roommates because I wanted to go on a mission. Before I could tell her this she told me that she’d love to be my roommate, but couldn’t because she had made the decision that weekend to go on a mission. That weekend we both had our prayers answered. I know that Heavenly Father was there with me, helping me to make my decision. He allowed me to use my agency first, and then gave his council. Heavenly Father always answers our prayers. Maybe it’s not when we want the answer, how we want the answer, or what we want the answer to be, but He will never ignore our prayers.