loving your call

Being in Ukraine makes preparing for a mission a little bit difficult. I am away from home, and busy with teaching my sweet little students English. It has been just a great experience, but I am ready to go home. To spend time with my family, and to really focus on my mission.

The other day I was talking about my mission with some of the other teachers, and I realized that I really would be perfectly happy with serving anywhere, in any language. Maybe that is just because I haven't really had a whole lot of time to think about it, but hey, I'll take what I can get. :) Having had so many friends serve missions (many who are currently serving), I have had a lot of talks about being happy with where you are called, because that is where you are supposed to go. There is a reason that you have been called there.

For some reason, I have always had this little... misconception (I guess, although I know it's wrong) idea that when calls are assigned, they (those who assign the calls) sit down with this big list of all of the missions. Then they just go down the list in alphabetical order, to assign the calls. I don't think that made any sense, so let me try again. They have a stack of prospective missionaries. They also have an alphabetical list of all of the missions. They then assign the calls according to where they are in the stack, (so from top to the bottom). If you are at the top of the stack, then you are called to serve in one of the first couple of missions (like The Birmingham Alabama Mission), and the further down in the stack you are, the further down the list of missions you are called. I know that is completely not the way it happens, but having grown up in AL, the missionaries would always joke about how their names must have been at the top of the stack.

Now back to the "loving where you are called" talk. One of the places that a lot of my friends were apposed to serving in was Utah, because it's Utah and there are so many members there. Or they want to go foreign, because it would be so much cooler if they were called to serve somewhere like Iceland. Don't get me wrong. I would LOVE to go foreign. As you may (or may not) already know, I love to travel. I love to experience new cultures, and to see new parts of the world. I mean, I went to school in Hawaii (with people from all over the world), and now I am teaching English in Ukraine. The idea of serving my mission somewhere abroad is so appeasing to me. And learning a new language (or finessing one I have already learned but am not fluent in)? Sign a sister up!

With all that being said though, I would also love to serve somewhere in the US. I mean, it's been a while since I have lived (actually lived) on the mainland for more than a couple of months. And I've never been to Alaska, so that would be pretty cool too. Although I have visited many states, I really only remember the south, east, and the southwest (Alabama, and New Mexico, with a whole lot of other similar states thrown in there as well). I love Utah and all of the mountains (so no hate there), and I would love to see and get to know more of the states in the center, as well as the north. I love living in the middle of nowhere (although I do miss things like Target and Walmart on occasion). I've never lived in a big city (unless you count Kyiv, Ukraine which I guess is pretty big) so that would be something new. I love the beach, and the countryside. I love the mountains. There are things that I think I would struggle with no matter where I went, be it foreign or stateside, but I'm okay with that. Another way for me to grow.

I was sitting there (okay, really I was standing there, taking in the beautiful city of Kyiv), talking about all of the cool places that I have still not seen, and all of the places that I have already been and would love to go back, and I realized that I really am going to love where ever it is that I am called to serve. Maybe I will experience some extreme culture shock, or maybe I will feel right at home. But that's okay. I will have the Lord on my side. :) Maybe I will struggle with a new language, or maybe I will be called to teach in the English language (one that I already know so well, and can more easily express my love for the gospel). Regardless it is going to be wonderful, because I will be serving the Lord. I am going to be called to a place, to serve a people, to teach them about Christ's restored gospel. What better thing is there than that? My mission is not about me, and as long as I remember that, I know I will be blessed. Knowing that a mission is not about me brings me peace. :)

I am so ready to serve.

Sister Robertson