I got home about 4:00, and Molly was really excited to open the call. We debated whether we should get all the kids in a Skype call to do it, but decided (after about 10 milliseconds) that we'd rather just open it.
We opened it, and read, "You are called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, assigned to the Cochabamba Bolivia Temple as a temple missionary. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of twenty three months."
Here are the calls:
Needless to say, we are humbled and excited at the same time.
We couldn't start informing the family, because we had to take Sawyer to his soccer practice, but on the way home, we called Mary (Molly's mother), and let her know. She was excited as well, and happy for us. She and Wilber, Molly's father, served a mission shortly after Molly and I got married, and were wonderful missionaries.
We then called my mother and father and let them know. Mom knew why we had called as soon as she heard our voices.
We were close to Emily's house, so we called her to let her know we were headed her direction and wanted to stop by. We visited with her sweet housemate, Jenni, until Emily showed up, and we told her.
When we got home, Sam and Sawyer were there, so we told them, and then we contacted the rest of the kids - Becky and her family, and Matt and his family in person, Stacy over the phone, Holly and Jeff and their family and Seth and Shalana and their family over Skype. We figure we're going to get familiar with Skype over the next two years.
So, just to fill in a bit of the back story, as to why this means so much to me.
I served my mission as a young man in Bolivia, and spent ten months of that mission in a small town called Punata, in a valley 30 miles from Cochabamba. The members in all of Bolivia were excited for the day that a temple would be built in Bolivia, but none of them imagined it would be so close. The missionaries, and most of the members imagined it would be in La Paz.
I returned home in 1975, and in 1995, a temple was announced for Bolivia, to be built in Cochabamba. I was so excited for what that would mean for all the members in Bolivia. It was completed and dedicated in 2000.
Last year, I was called to work as a temple ordinance worker in the Mt. Timpanogos temple in American Fork. While working there, I have had many experiences that have strengthened my testimony of Jesus Christ, of His Atonement, and of the saving power of the covenants we make there and the ordinances performed. I have been able to assist so many sweet people in making those covenants, and have felt of the joy they experience as they help their ancestors make those covenants as well. As I have been blessed to assist in Temple ordinances, I have felt powerful spirits, testimony, and approval of the work done there.
Through experiences there, I felt more and more strongly each week that it was time for Molly and I to take on the next phase of our life, and offer our time and means to the great work of bringing people to Christ. As I worked in the Temple, I felt that being able to help the humble, sweet people of Bolivia in these ordinances and covenants would be bringing the work I did 40 years ago full circle. The love I felt for those people has been a constant through my life - I so deeply desire that they can have these blessings with their families, and feel humbled and blessed to be called to do that.
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