Mission Call!

Well, as most of you probably know, I opened my mission call yesterday! I was surprised it came so quickly, it only took a week. I was going crazy wanting to check the mail at 3 (that's when it comes) but I had to work until 5. Still, by the time I got home I had talked myself out of being excited--I figured it would be next week. So imagine my surprise when I saw this white envelope sitting there. Luckily I only had to wait an hour and a half to open it, which wasn't bad at all. I felt really peaceful and good about it, so it wasn't really torture to wait.

I've been called to serve in the Czech/Slovak Mission, speaking Czech! I actually had a lot of people guess Eastern Europe, and I was feeling Europe too, but still, I wasn't expecting the Czech Republic. (It was pretty funny because my friend Daniel served there, and his parents were actually on Skype with mine when I opened it) I've started reading up on the history of the country, I didn't think I knew anything, but I remembered the Defenestration of Prague, the Thirty Year's War, the Prague Spring and that they were a Soviet bloc country, and that Prague is supposed to be really beautiful, so that wasn't bad. I'm so excited!!

Yesterday was kind of a roller coaster of emotions, and it still hasn't sunk in yet that I'm actually going. I'm starting to get a little bit terrified, but I'm sure that's normal, after all I'm going to be living in a country I know pretty much nothing about, speaking a language I've never heard, for the next year and a half of my life. That would intimidate anyone. But still, mostly what I feel is excitement and a little bit of disbelief that this actually is my life. I started this blog off with my adventures in Paris on study abroad, and I've been blessed to have some amazing adventures since--this is just the latest!

A girl in my ward came up to me on Sunday and said that I always seemed to be off on some adventure, and asked what my latest one was haha. It's kind of funny because I've never really seen myself as the adventurous type, but I'm starting to realize that maybe I'm a lot more brave than I think I am. Every year of college I've done something so far out of my comfort zone that it was almost ridiculous, yet managed to survive, learn a lot of things about myself, and even enjoy it. So I guess this is just the next stage of that pattern! I think if I hadn't gone to Paris and Guernsey I would not be brave enough to go to the Czech Republic, but having done that and proved to myself that I could, this isn't quite the leap that it could have been. After all I've adjusted to living in 2 different countries for 2 months each already. I'm sure as a missionary it will be way different, and much harder in many ways, but in small ways I feel like I've been prepared. Plus I'm just so excited to be immersed in the gospel every single day, without worrying about anything else. My faith is what brings me the most joy in life, and I'm really excited to be able to share that with the people that I will be serving!

Senior

Well I'm officially a senior at BYU. Weird. This is my 7th semester (not counting study abroad or my field study) so I think it's safe to say I have the whole college thing down! My Anthro lab this semester that I'm teaching is full of freshmen, and I definitely feel a lot older than them (they look so little!). One boy came up to me after class and said...um I was just wondering, what's the SWKT? So I explained it was the tallest building on campus, and that I was sure he could find it on the map...etc. haha, oh lost little freshmen... It should be good though, freshmen usually care about their grades, so they might actually participate and do the readings this semester. Oh, the joys of being a TA, haha. But as much as I fake-complain about it I really do like my job! I miss all my fellow TA's who have graduated though, we have so many new ones.

As for my classes, I am taking my last ever French class, Literary Analysis (340) . I'm actually pretty excited about it, my French isn't as rusty as I thought, and my professor seems pretty cool. Plus we get to read Voltaire and Molière! I'm also taking data analysis and thesis of course, and it's kind of weird that those are my only Anthro classes. What else....oh marriage prep. Before you laugh, it's actually an awesome class. Dance 380, which is going to be a challenge, but really fun...and an Honors class. So not bad. The most work will be my thesis, but I planned accordingly, so I'm not really worried about it. Surprisingly enough I'm excited to finally start writing it.

In other news, my mission papers are officially in!! I should get my call either this week or next, and I can't wait. I really want to know where I'm going to be for the next year and a half of my life. Any guesses?

Other things... my ward is awesome, I love it. I've made so many new friends in the first week and I can already tell this semester is going to be so fun. My new roommates are cool, they love to travel too, so we are going to put up a map and mark everywhere we've been, plus take a trip to Ikea once we all get our paychecks on Friday haha. Oh and my freshman ward is having a reunion this next weekend, so it will be good to see everybody after 2 years!

Life is good.