I Hope They Call Me on a Mission!

I hope they call me on a mission

When I have grown a foot or two.

I hope by then I will be ready

To teach and preach and work as 

missionaries do.

I hope that I can share the gospel

With those who want to know the truth.

I want to be a missionary

And serve and help the Lord

while I am in my youth.

~Children's Songbook of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, page 169

Children who grow up in our church are singing this song by the time they're three years old, if not sooner. Its catchy tune and sweet, earnest message makes it a beloved favorite.

While young women are more than welcome to serve missions, missionary work is a priesthood duty and our church leaders encourage all young men who are worthy and who are physically able and mentally capable to respond to the call to serve. Jake's missionary papers are complete and we are waiting, literally, any hour now for our stake president to push that submit button!

Mission papers can be submitted to church headquarters in Salt Lake City no more than 120 days prior to the mission candidate's availability date, which, for Jake, is July 1st. February 21st was the earliest day he could submit his papers and his goal. After having his mission interview with Bishop Graham, he met with President Sharp on Thursday, February 15th and it turns out, Jake forgot to have us sign a form. Which seems awfully reminiscent of his Eagle Scout paperwork! No biggie,  though. We could sign it at home and then scan it and send it to our bishop, who would get it in Jake's account. We learned, that night however, that President Sharp would be out of the country on Feb. 21st, but that wouldn't be a huge issue because he could get online and send Jake's papers in from whatever location he was at.

Jake texted President Sharp on the 21st to find out if he was able to push any buttons that day. President Sharp, who was in New Zealand, texted Jake later to apologize. He was having difficulty with his phone and getting an internet connection, but that he would send in Jake's papers as soon as he could. Jake was MOST patient and understanding in his reply to President Sharp. Jared and I, while also understanding, were not very patient! It's just ironic that we get to the very day to start the clock ticking and we have to wait some more. *sigh* I guess it could be worse. Jake's young men president was telling Jake that he waited and waited and waited long beyond when he thought he should have received his mission call in the mail before asking his Stake President about it. This was back in the days of "snail mail." He didn't want to be a nuisance about it, which is why he let so much time go by, but when he finally inquired about his call, the Stake President sheepishly admitted that he had just found the mission papers under a pile on his desk! They hadn't even been mailed off to Salt Lake City. So while we do have to wait for the mission call to arrive in our mailbox, at least our stake president can send off the documentation electronically! Once he has an internet connection, of course! ;)

For kicks and giggles, we thought it would be fun to invite our family and friends and their children to predict where they think Jake will be called to serve. We have an Amazon gift card for the first person who makes the closest prediction to his two year assignment, whether that's the country, state, city or actual mission. In the case of a tie, Jake will draw names. :) If you've already predicted on Facebook, you're good to go!! Leave your prediction in the comments or on Facebook!

******************************UPDATE, 3/4/18*************************************

Yesterday morning (3/3), I woke up to a text from President Sharp. He said he sat down to submit Jake's papers when he first got up and received an ERROR message in response. Apparently, the papers were outside of the 120 day period. You've got to be kidding! I never counted the days. Jared never counted. We left that up to Jakey Poo. But when I read that, I went and counted them myself. Sure enough, Feb. 21st was more like 130 days! I had to laugh. This kid is in AP science and two AP math classes and he couldn't count back 120 days from July 1st. :) It's easy enough to get off by a 10 when you're excited, I guess. President Sharp was relieved to know he hadn't set back Jake's call by because of his trip, but he and I both agreed that if Jake not being able to count his days is the worst thing, he's doing pretty good!