(Not) Opening Our Mission Call Letter

Opening a mission call letter is a big deal in Mormon culture.  But ours didn't happen the way one sees on YouTube.

Our stake president was kind enough to drive in to Gainesville early on the morning of Sunday, July 30 to interview us before we headed out to Sanford's speaking assignment in Chiefland.

We knew the paperwork had been submitted, because we heard from mission medical.  Sanford had to redo his urinalysis.  Also, they were concerned because a drug I sometimes use is not available in Indonesia.  And then the phone calls stopped and all we had to do was wait.

Three weeks later we flew up to Salt Lake City, to join the Woodbury clan at the Lovell Ranch in Idaho for an amazing view of the eclipse.  The next week, I decided as an act of faith to start the Hepatitis A & B vaccine series, which takes six months.  The week after that, we left on vacation to Europe to see our daughter and her family.

We were told it would take about six weeks, to get our mission call.  As it happened, both the Labor Day weekend and Hurricane Irma intervened.  Intellectually, we knew that was the likely reason for delay, but it was still worrisome.

This picture overlooking Prague was taken right before our phones buzzed.

We talked about going to New Jersey instead of Indonesia, and feeling good about the opportunity to serve wherever we were needed.  We worried that we had been turned down entirely and our stake president would break it to us when we got back.  And we waited.

About that time, Hurricane Irma took a wrong turn seeming to head for Gainesville, so we were watching CNN, texting and calling home.  And in between discussions about generators and safe parking places, we also asked about the mail.  Nothing.

Then on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 12, when we were touring Prague Castle, our cell phones buzzed and we both had messages from Missionary Medical, "Congratulations on your call to serve! ...you appear to have adequate health coverage where you have been called to serve."

But where is that?  So that was our first confirmation of a mission call.

We flew home a few days later, and the very next day after we got back, Sanford went off to St. Augustine to help with storm cleanup from the hurricane. When I went out to the mailbox, there were two large white envelopes from missionary travel.   Sanford called me on the phone during the afternoon, and at his agreement, I opened my envelope, which included very detailed instructions for a visa application to Indonesia and our reservation information for a flight from Salt Lake City to Jakarta, Indonesia.

Still no idea as to when we would report to the Missionary Training Center (MTC), etc.

That was Saturday, September 16, and that evening we decided to write our stake president and mission president and bishop to see if anyone could tell us about the status of our call.  Well, Indonesia is 12 hours ahead of the US, so it was Sunday morning there and the mission president called us immediately.  He sent us a .pdf copy of the letters, which were dated on August 26.  He also told us about the online information, in which most everything is available that would have come with the packet itself.

Mission call packet

One of my first steps was to contact the MTC about setting up our online language training.  On Tuesday, September 19, Sanford helped a friend through surgery and he was recovering in our family room, so I set up a table in the living room for a Skype orientation with a language coordinator at the MTC.

That same afternoon the paper letters and packet with our official mission call also arrived.

Because Indonesian is not a common language, it took another month for the MTC to find a tutor, who we met with for the first time on October 18.  He has been very helpful.

Sanford finally got the first shot for the Hepatitis A & B series after we heard about going to Indonesia.  He will take the third/final shot on the day we leave for Indonesia.

So that's how we finally got our mission call.  We think of it as a unique experience, and we will always remember Hurricane Irma and Prague.