The Opening.

The calls came on Friday. We knew Grace's would be here this week, but I had no warning that mine might be coming as well. When I saw the two white envelopes it took me a couple seconds to process what was actually happening. When I saw both our names, I ran back to the house and called my sister, "YOU NEED TO GET HERE NOW, OUR CALLS ARE HERE!!!" she thought I was joking...

We decided to wait till Sunday to open them, our best friend was getting married the next day so we were kept pretty busy. I wasn't as anxious to open it as I thought I would be. Waiting wasn't hard.

So when Sunday decided to roll around this is what happened:

I cried.

Hard... it was ridiculous.

I could hardly finish the first sentence.

But first Grace went.

Dear Sister Huskey: You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You Have been called to serve in the Brazil, Sao Paulo North Mission...You should report to the Brazil MTC on Wednesday, July 3, 2013. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Portuguese language.

BOOM. She knocked it out, no problem.

Then. It was my turn.

I never thought that I would have this many people in front of me, supporting me, cheering me on. But it was weird, in that moment I was overcome with the strangest feeling to just .walk.away.

It literally took all that I had not to.

I chopped that bad boy open with the biggest knife from the kitchen. It was literally a machete.

Closed my eyes.

Flipped and covered, just like I had seen so many others do.

Let me just say that there are WAY to many headings, I guess they're good for building suspense.

I almost didn't breathe.

Dear Sister Huskey:

You are hereby called to serve...

I started to tear up, note all ...'s

as a missionary... of the Church... of Jesus Christ.... of Latter-day Saints.

and this is what I said.

"You are assigned to labor... in the Brazil, something I cant pronounce Mission."

Everyone laughed

This is what it really said:

You are assigned to labor in the Brazil Florianopolis Mission.

 As most mission calls do, it kept going. I'm thinking, "Stop. Please- don't be real!"

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

You should report to the Brazil Missionary Training Center on (more freaking tears) Wednesday, July 3, 2013. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Portuguese language. Your assignment may be modified according to the needs of the mission president...

on it continued, but I had no time to read it then...

I'm not quite sure exactly how to describe how I feel about it. I didn't want to go to South America, and I certainly didn't want to go to Brazil in fact it's everything I didn't want. But when I read that first line..."The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" I KNEW that it didn't matter. A place is just a place, it's the people who need to hear the gospel- Every soul is great in the sight of God. Who am I to put one mission over another simply because of where it's at or what I think of it?

Yes Germany was my dream. But Brazil is another world. There is absolutely NOTHING that connects me to Brazil, I don't know anything about it.

But I KNOW the church is true... I will certainly be losing myself in this work.

HOW THE HECK AM I SUPPOSED TO LEARN PORTUGUESE....

I can hardly spell Portuguese right to begin with anyway! haha!

oh the struggle!

I'm straight scared. There is a SERIOUS spider population there!

I think I'm going to die.

But if I don't I'll be seeing you all in about 684 days. so basically an eternity.

Anyway, despite my sounding upset that I'm going to Brazil, I am very excited to preach the gospel. I guess I'm a little confused, but I know that I'll make this mission mine and I'll begin to understand why I was sent there as time goes on.

So, here I am. 136 days away from entering the MTC. With so much to be afraid of and nervous for, but filled with so much peace for what I've been asked to do.

Actually I'm pretty pumped.

Fun tidbit: We received our calls the day before Grace's Birthday and We 'report' to the Brazil MTC the day before mine...even though we'll probably get there the night before. #winning