Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013, my call arrived.
I had been waiting for Wednesday morning to come so that I could go check the mail and hopefully see that blessed envelope contained inside. Walking toward the mailbox, my heart was pounding. On top of a bunch of ads, I could see through the mailbox door a white envelope, its edges slightly curved to accomodate the small size of the box. My hands shook as I pulled the mailkey out of my pocket, slid it into its socket, and turned it. Knowing my luck, I was so nervous that that envelope wouldn't be what I thought it was. As I opened the mailbox door and pulled out that envelope, my eyes widened and my heart began to pound. I immediately turned on my heels and ran in a full-on sprint back to my apartment. I ran inside, holding the envelope, and yelled simply "Ahhhhh!!!!!!!!!" My roommates yelled "It's here!" They then took it from my hands and attempted to put flashlights underneath to see if they could see words. They tried tracking the stamp because they were pretty sure the package is sent to the mission president first so the stamp traces back to wherever it is I'm going.... haha, so funny. The stamp traced back to France. They were sure I was going to France. I told them that's not how it works, that the package comes from the church headquarters in Salt Lake. Going to France would be cool but I told them if I did it'd be nothing but a coincidence. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to France. They remained in their certainty that I would open my call and find out I was called to go to France.
Just so you know, I wasn't called to go to France.
I held my fate in my hands for two days before I could finally open it. I tried to stay out of my apartment as much as possible, and be busy sleeping or showering if I was. It seems like Heavenly Father was helping me out as best He could in those few days. I ended up working both nights which offered great distraction, and for the rest of the time I was distracted with movies with friends, hanging out in the Institute building, reading, and just about anything else. Surprisingly it worked really well. There were one or two times that I thought I might want to open it by myself first, but decided against that because I knew I'd regret it. I knew I'd want that moment with family and friends. I wanted to share that with them. I'm glad I did.
Thursday I went to the temple with my roommates. We obviously did only baptisms, but I knew I would need the solace found only in the temple. I went asking Heavenly Father to bless me with an open heart. I asked Him to bless me that I would feel excited and happy when I read my call, no matter where it may have been that I was called. That's what He did for me.
Friday morning came and I was certain I'd be bouncing off the walls; that's my normal reaction to the anticipation of a big event. Instead, I felt this overwhelming sense of calm. I was still very excited to know where I was going, but I knew wherever it was it was right. It was a surreal sort of calm; I can't even describe it. All I can say is I felt my Father answering my prayers for an open heart, telling me it was going to be alright.
Everyone started to arrive around 3:30. Cousins, siblings, ward and stake friends. All my awesome friends up in Logan were on Facetime so that they could see me open it, which I thought was really great of them and it meant a lot to me that they did that. Ten or twelve of them were there. My grandma and aunt down in St. George were on speaker, my bishop was on speaker, and my step-grandma over in Florida was on speaker. We had Dominos pizza for everybody and, of course, Dr. Pepper. It just wouldn't be a Dolan-Poulsen gathering without it. Everyone wrote their predictions on little stickies with their name on them and put them up on a map.
Finally, it was 4:02, and I was ready to open that envelope!
Dear Sister Dolan,
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Uruguay Montevideo West mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months.
You should report to the Argentina Missionary Training Center August 29, 2013. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language.
URUGUAY?!
I was SO shocked, but SO excited. I couldn't believe it! I had never anticipated South America in a million years, but as soon as I read those words it felt so right.
If you were to look at the map we put up with everyone's predictions, you'd see how very wrong everybody's predictions were. Most of the stickies are in The U.S., Europe and Asia. There are only two or three in South America! We were WAY off! I was, too. Though I had no specific place I wanted to go or even a place I felt like I was going, the one thing I would tell people was "I will say this: I'm pretty sure I'm not going to South America."
Ha. Ha. Ha.
My mom's coworker just got back from that exact same mission and she will be able to help me out a lot. My dad put His prediction on the map as Taiwan, but last week in the temple with my mom he turned to her in the Celestial Room and said "I just got the impression that Megan's going to Uruguay." This has been prepared for a long time.
I am so excited to serve in Uruguay. It's WARM there! Yay! Winters ranging from 40 to 60 degrees! That is suntanning weather to a Utah girl! Of course, though, I'm excited for other reasons. I'm excited because I know my Father has had it prepared for me. I know I agreed to it before I came here. Whenever people asked me if I wanted to go any specific place I told them I didn't. The hours leading up to finding out were a little nerve-racking. How was I going to feel? Was it going to feel right? Would I be excited? Disappointed? I wasn't sure. This call seems so out of left field to me but feels so right. I have next to no background on Uruguay and Spanish but I know I am going to love it and its people. It's only been a day and I already do. I feel so right about this. I know it's what the Lord has planned for me and I am so eager to arrive there. I have five months to wait, but I think the Lord knew I would need that time and I am thankful to Him for that.
It all feels so surreal right now. It still hasn't completely sunk in. I know I agreed to this in the pre-existence. I can feel that there are people I knew in the realm of our Father. I knew I would be born into the gospel and they knew they wouldn't be. As we parted ways, I promised them I would find them. It's amazing that the time has come where I get to keep that promise! Now that I'm going it feels strange to think there was ever a time that I was so adamantly against it.
I have a firm testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is my Savior and my Redeemer, my Elder Brother. Every blessing I have in this life is because He gave His life for his brothers and sisters. I know Heavenly Father is aware of all of us, and He is aware of me and the people of Uruguay. I know this is the true gospel restored by the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know families are forever, and I'm grateful that mine is through this Gospel. I know the priesthood is a divine and sacred power given by God. I know my Maker. I know He loves me. I can't wait to get to know Him and His Son even better. I can't wait to share this with the people of Uruguay.
I can't WAIT to find my brothers and sisters and lead them to the blessings I have!
I'M GOING TO URUGUAY!!!!!!!!!!!!
~Hermana Dolan :)
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