in about two or three weeks i will get a white envelope in the mail. it will be from the city i was born in, the state capital of utah, and the headquarters of my crazy religion.

it will say, on the nice church letterhead, something like this:

dear sister,

you are hereby called to serve in the such and such mission, in such and such city, country, for a period of 18 months, leaving behind all other personal affairs.

you will report to the missionary training center on wednesday, such and such a date, 2007. etc, etc.

sincerely,

the first presidency and quorum of the twelve apostles of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints.

and that means, that on such and such a date, i will disappear from life as i currently know it; give up such privileges as wearing trousers, watching movies, talking to complete strangers on the internet, and going for walks by myself; and instead take up a diet of scripture, service, and teaching, possibly learning a foreign language. it's going to be weird.

the decision to do this hasn't been exactly easy, though it wasn't exactly hard either. i guess mostly my going on this mission is just the thing that happens next. i'm anxious. i'm a little frightened. i don't know what will happen to me while i'm wearing that little black name tag, representing this church. i don't know where i will go.

but it is only eighteen months, anyway. i'll survive, i'm sure.

i started a whole thread for this topic because it is traditional to take a moment and present a guess to the missionary-to-be about which of the 300+ world-wide missions he or she might be called to serve in. and so i open the field for anyone here who might care to throw out a prediction.

there is a list of all the currently operating missions in the church, if you like.

i'll let you all know when the white envelope shows up and what it has to tell me.

joe pancake?

*learns mind-control techniques to persuade CoJCoLDS to send you to England*

and just in case you get sent to Hicksville...

*learns alien mind-control techniques to persuade you that you were actually sent to england*


You'll probably get Mexico now...

(Playing blind Pictionary, me drawing)
Ella: Is it a giraffe?
Me (stops drawing): No
Ella: Star Trek?
Me: Yes!

I blindly picked, Poland, Warsaw, but you might get Tahiti, Papeete. I guess either one of those places would be an interesting place to spend 18 months.

() ()
( ' ,') "don't eat green potatoes"
(> >) Last words of Mrs. Bertha Sperling
@( )_ )_

There's a mission in Toulouse, I often see them around the city center... Heh, with a bit of luck I might get to pester you live But then with Ben's newfound powers, you'll probably end up in Antartica trying to convert the penguins. Good luck plaid, sounds like quite an adventure

Damn Spider pig

Micronesia Guam - I'm not actually sure where it is apart from somewhere in the pacific.
I'm surprised that there are only two missions in France. Hope you don't get Mongolia. Good Luck with it though, where-ever you go.

I was lookign around on the swedish mission and found this part of the site Things That Are Different in Sweden Some of the things are untrue since the list is old, but still. none of those things are very strange, are they?

That which does not kill me has committed a serious mistake.

I pick Kiev, Ukraine, 'cause that's where I'm from :-). But if you get sent to any other more-or-less Russian-speaking place, let me know and I'll give you some tips on what to say and what not to eat :-). Best of luck!

edited to get rid of a snooty word "colloquialism"!

Friends don't let friends take up scrapbooking!

I'll guess for Stockholm then.

Are you not allowed spontaneous social interaction with anyone outside your church during these months at all?

I vote Vladivostok. I've always liked that name.

Wherever you go it will be a great adventure. Enjoy it.

Y'know what they say. Red sky at night, Ankh-Morporks Alight.



Nullius In verba!

no, we are. the whole point of serving a mission is to get to know the people you're serving and teach them about the gospel.

there are a lot of rules though. since i'm a girl, wearing skirts is one of them. no wasting time on the internet is another of them. depending on which mission i get sent to, i may be allowed to email my family once a week. if i'm called to somewhere in the states, i probably won't even get that.

joe pancake?

Wherever you end up, you'll see things through a new perspective, I'm sure you'll be fine - good luck!

I think the one in Ljubljana is actually a few hundred meters away, if I'm not mistaken. I've talked to a couple of nice boys (ok, members of the church... but it's hard to think anything else but polite young boys about them, with freckles and all :P) a few months back, and I seem to remember them saying they lived near by.
So if you get that, I'll be happy to provide you with some internet time Or at least some company every now and then, if you want.

thanks for the good wishes, everyone.
lipi, you are very generous, but i hope i'll have the diligence to follow mission rules, wherever i get sent.
missionaries are pretty young to be out doing all the work they do, but that's part of the miracle i guess. that all those ridiculous 19-year-old boys haven't shamed the church into the ground by now.

joe pancake?

That depends which ones are untrue... Some of these are, in my opinion, more telling about America than about Sweden, but many of them sound really odd to me.

Plaid, I think you're a loony. I think you'll get sent to... Guatemala! Or Colorado Springs, where you can try to convert Om. Best of luck with it, and let us know as soon as you hear.

Mrs G
The Garner who cares.

LOL!! You funny lady Grace.

I think you'll go to Tijuana. Yeah!

Fuck Shoes.