The Call Has Arrived

Opening the mission call!

Jennifer and Ben returned from their trip to London yesterday and Isaac and I spent the day at Sea World in San Diego.  This morning, before leaving the house to run some errands, I stepped out to get the mail since I wasn’t available to get it yesterday.  There was a descent pile of stuff in the mailbox, so I gathered it up and headed back to the house.  Normally, my habit is to thumb through the pile of mail as I’m returning to the front door, but today, I didn’t.  I walked into the house and over to the dining room table.  As I started to sort the mail, there quickly became two distinct piles: bills and recycle.  Then I came to the final piece of mail.  It was a large white envelope with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the left hand corner.  Further inspection revealed it to be addressed to “Elder Benjamin Metcalfe.”  Immediately, I realized that this letter fit into neither of the two categories the others had.

Ben and Isaac were at the computer looking over the “cut scenes” of the soon to be released Lego game based on the four Jurassic Park movies.  I slipped the large envelope behind my back and said, “Guys, you need to pause what you’re watching right now.”  Surprised by my request, they did so and turned toward me with questions of “why” on their faces.  Now in full control of their attention, I brought the letter out from hiding and said, “This letter was in the mailbox.  It is from the Church and it’s addressed to Elder Metcalfe.”

The "right" letter

Ben’s eyes suddenly grew big as he realized what I was saying and what the letter contained.  He took the letter from my hand and looked at it in wonder.  I could tell there was a part of him that wanted to rip it open right then and read its contents.  “Your mom’s not here,” I reminded him.  “Besides, there are people you wanted to invite to see you open it.”  Ben was afraid that it would take days to get everyone together.  “Don’t worry,” I assured him. “We will invite people and if they can make it that’s great.  If not, don’t worry; you’ll get to read this letter before the day is over.”  I have to applaud Ben for not opening the letter after I left to run my errands.  I called Jennifer before driving to the post office and let her know Ben’s mission call had arrived.  From what the boys told me she came home and immediately put the news on Facebook and then started calling people (I think she basically went down the ward list J).

Seeing where he would serve before reading it to us.

One of the people Ben definitely wanted to invite was Alana.  He called her, but, at the time, she wasn’t sure she could make it and told him she would call him back to let him know.  When I returned home, I started making phone calls to my parents and brothers and sisters.  After just finishing one phone call, the phone immediately began to ring.  I answered; it was Alana.  She said she had made arrangements to come here, but when her mom had gone to the mailbox, she had discovered a similar, large white envelope addressed to Sister Shutter! J  I had thought it possible that their calls would come at the same time.  I was happy to be correct in my assessment.  We wanted to use Skype in order for Alana to hear Ben’s call and he to hear her's.  The picture connection was good, but our microphone hook-up wasn't working (sending or receiving).  Our home computer has been acting goofy lately (one of the reasons I’ve fallen behind in my posts again L).  But it was worked out that phones on speaker could be used in order to overcome the hearing problem.

"It's good it's English."

The actual “moment of truth” moment was a bit comical.  We had a house full of ward members (I was touched to see the amount of people who came to the house to participate in Ben’s letter reading); Alana and her family on Skype; Jennifer had her parents and my parents on cell phones; I was working the video camera and Isaac was taking the still pictures. J  Ben opened his letter and pulled out a nicely put together packet of material.  When I replayed the moment after loading the video, I noticed him looking into the envelope to see if there was anything else with the material, but at the time I was too busy with the video camera and didn’t notice he didn’t have the actual letter in his hands!  With a shrug, he opened the packet and started the read the letter on the first page of the packet.  The whole room quieted down as we listened.  After 30 seconds or so, me and others in the room started whispering, “That doesn’t sound like the official call letter.”  But no one wanted to stop Ben.  It was when he paused for a moment and gave this puzzled look of, “Why hasn’t this letter told me where I’m going?” that I realized for sure that something might still be inside the envelope.  The video picture goes awry as I stepped forward to pick up his envelope and peer inside.  There it was!  I guess when Ben reached inside; his fingers found the packet but missed the actual letter. J

"It's sacred!"

I handed it to him.  Everyone got a good chuckle and he composed himself and started again.  This time, the letter sounded correct.  We all waited as he reached the point where he the letter said “you have been called to serve in the … (his eyes widened for a moment) … Denver Colorado North Mission.”  The room erupted with a roar of approval which was wonderful to hear.  I didn’t want to yell because the microphone in the video camera would have caught it and I probably would have drowned out Ben for a moment, but I was very happy and excited for him.  He will be speaking English and will enter the Provo MTC on September 2nd.  Alana was called to Guatemala (Guatemala City); speaking Spanish and will report to the Guatemala MTC in October.  When he reached the end of the letter, Ben pointed at President Monson's signature and said, "It's sacred!  It has Thomas S. Monson's signature on it; it's sacred!"  This world would be much better off if more people felt that way.

Soapbox moment (at least I warned you J): I think sometimes we members get too caught up in the “exoticness (if such a word exists)” of the place a missionary will be serving.  If the missionary gets called to a foreign place, I’ve seen family and friends go bonkers on the videos uploaded onto YouTube; on the other hand, if the missionary gets called to a domestic mission, I’ve seen ho-hum reactions.  Just the fact that the young woman or man wants to serve is the exciting thing.  Couple their desire with the fact that they are being sent to the place where the Lord wants them to go—the place where He knows their talents and abilities will best affect others and in turn themselves—is what should be kept in mind.  This is why I didn’t guess when it came to where Ben was going to be assigned (I think Jennifer felt much the same way).  What was the point in guessing when my mind is not the Lord’s mind (see Isaiah 55:8).  I will say that Denver Colorado was definitely not a place that even crossed my mind in the moments leading up to Ben reading the destination out loud, but, then, that’s the point.  The Lord knows where Ben is needed and He inspired His servant (whichever Apostle had the happy task of assigning missionaries the day Ben’s application came up in the queue) to send him to the right place.  Stepping off soapbox. J

Excited to serve.

Already Ben has found little connections to his mission.  One of his friends from school has said that he wants to live in Denver someday.  One of the temple pictures Ben chose to put on the front of his binder (there were 3) throughout this last school year was the Denver Temple.  Little things like this have helped him make connections to his mission already.  I’m sure once he arrives, he’ll find plenty more as he loses himself in the work.  I have started teaching both Ben and Alana the temple preparation lessons (it’s a nice way to get to know her and her parents better and it keeps me from becoming a blubbering mess while I’m teaching).  We completed the first one before Ben and Jennifer went to London.  Now we will pick them back up again with the intent of completing them in July.  Our target for taking Ben to the temple for the first time is August 8th.  Now that we have a target date for the beginning of his mission, I'm sure the next two and a half months will rush by very quickly.