emkap.

I have sort of discovered something entirely surprising about myself:  I want to serve a mission

I had never thought seriously about serving one since it’s not something that most Mormon girls end up doing, and I always have had other plans. 

—

There was a specific event that happened that I could not and can not ignore when it comes to my urge to serve.

it was the morning after the Zoë Keating concert in Boulder and I had asked Allison if I could go to church with her. I was really excited since I hadn’t had the chance to go in a long time. It was her first Sunday in Colorado after returning home from Russia, so she brought her Russian hymn book and we sat with her siblings.

Many of the talks that day were about service. I listened quietly and took it all in. When Relief Society had rolled around, nothing had changed except the company we shared. During the opening exercises, a clipboard was being passed around for sign-ups for missionary dinners. cool.

the lesson began and the Sister who had prepared the lesson gave pink hand-outs with quotes from church leaders about service and had us take a moment to read them. All I could think while reading:

(emily, you need to go on a mission)

huh?

(you need to serve a mission)

oh.

—

I hadn’t thought about that event much consciously until I began writing a letter to return to Allison. I just wrote a lot of things and then it came out on paper like you’d imagine word vomit would: out of nowhere and LOTS of it. 

So that’s my story. I want to go on a mission.

Besides, eighteen months living, breathing, and learning service sounds like a perfect eighteen months. 

Now all I think: “how can I prepare?”