"YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS!!!"

That's what Mary said to me as I answered the phone this afternoon, she was obviously upset. My first two thoughts were:

1. she found her mission call in the mail, opened it immediately and hated where she was going.
2. she came down with a sickness that would not allow her go on a mission anymore.

Thankfully, neither of those things were the case. But the news was still bad.... you ready for this??

HER PAPERS WERE NEVER TURNED IN!

Someone dropped the ball (I won't name names, but for the record it wasn't Mary). She was expecting her call any day now, so this was really disappointing news.

So everyone, hang tight because you won't find out for at least ANOTHER TWO WEEKS. End of February/beginning of March-ish. There's still time to make guesses for anyone who has yet to do so :)

Turning in Papers!

Mary Parker is going on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! And as the proud big sister that I am I will make sure everyone knows about it. I've known Mary her entire life and I know she will be a great missionary! And let me tell you why:

Mary loves.

She loves to smile and laugh. She loves to have fun. She loves the scriptures. I cannot tell you how many times I turned the light out in Mary's room during high school, where I would find her fast asleep next to her scriptures (Mary, you must have known that light was not turning out on its own!). She loves the gospel. She loves to do what's right. She loves hugs. But most importantly Mary loves people. And those of you who know Mary can't help but love her back.

Over the years the idea of a mission was always in the back of Mary's mind. About a year ago Mary told me that she had decided she was definitely going to serve a mission and couldn't wait until she could go! Here she is working on her "papers" (everything is actually done electronically now) a few months ago. She finished all of the paperwork within a week, just waiting for today....

She can finally turn in her papers! Mary turns 21 in March (the age a woman must be before she goes) and she plans on leaving after this semester of school has ended. That's why she has waited until now to turn them in. In about two weeks (around Valentine's Day) she should be getting her mission call in the mail! She is so excited and I think I'm almost as excited as she is to find out where she will serve!

Within these next couple of weeks members of the Quorom of the Twelve Apostles, under the direction of President Monson, will take the time to look through Mary's paperwork, at her picture and get a feel for who she is - then they choose where she should go. That is really neat to think about.

ALRIGHT EVERYBODY! Leave a comment with your guess of where she will be going. To make things interesting Mary says she will mail something from that place (what it is will be a surprise!) to whoever is closest in their guess!

Here are a few things that may help you guess:

• Mary hates seafood.
• Mary hopes to go to Europe or an exotic island.
• Mary really hopes NOT to go to Utah, Idaho, California or Colorado - all too close.
  
• Mary has had TONS of dreams of receiving her mission call, but usually without opening it. There are only 2 dreams where she actually found out what her call said:
  

1. Mary was at a party with her friends at school. The call had been mailed to our parents and our Dad texted her saying "You are going to Alton, New York". (Mary had never heard of Alton, but after Google-ing it discovered it's a real place that is only 30 minutes from Palmyra, New York! An important place in our church's history)
2. Mary opened the call in her apartment surrounded by friends. She read that she was going to Boise, Idaho. She looked up and said "Figures", then everyone said "uh, gotta go" and left her alone. Lame!

Guess away! Just a couple of weeks till we find out!!!