GARRETT'S BIG ADVENTURE

Garrett's mission papers have been submitted!!!!

He should receive his mission call in 2-3 weeks.
He says that everyday is like Christmas Eve and he stays up all night wondering where he will go, when he will go and what it will be like.

I'd like to share a little bit about missions - the who, what, why, where and when for anyone who isn't familiar with them.
Probably, everyone has seen those guys - two of them - riding bikes down the street in white shirts and dark pants in the rain, sleet, hail, snow and heat.
Have you ever wondered WHO they were or WHAT they were doing?
Maybe this little post will help!

Nearly 52,000 missionaries are serving missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at any one time. Most are young people under the age of 25, serving in nearly 350 missions throughout the world.  There are missions all over the United States. There are three right here in Colorado.  There are missions in South America, Europe, Africa and in nearly every country.

Trammell returned in July from his mission in Cambodia

To say he loved it would be an understatement.

 My parents are currently serving a mission in Rome.

"Missionaries can be single men between the ages of 19 and 25, single women over the age of 21, or retired couples. Missionaries work with a companion of the same gender during their mission, with the exception of couples, who work with their spouse. Single men serve missions for two years and single women serve missions for 18 months.

Missionary work is voluntary. Missionaries fund their own missions—except for their transportation to and from their field of labor—and are not paid for their services. Contacts with family and friends during this time of service are limited to letters and occasional phone calls to family at special times. Missionaries avoid entertainment, parties, or other activities common to this age-group as long as they are on their missions so they can focus entirely on the work of serving and of teaching others the gospel of Jesus Christ." (Taken from lds.org)


In our family, as in many families in our church, it has always been assumed that each of the boys would go on missions.  The conversations since birth, have always been "When you go on your mission....." Not "If."
My parents were converts.  They started "investigating" the church when I was about 5 or so. (That's a whole other story for a different post.)  They were taught about the church by missionaries.  All of my brothers served missions to Spain, Japan, and the Czech Republic.  All of my brother-in-laws and one of my sister-in-laws also served missions.  Brian served his mission in Milan, Italy.  So - it is what we do!

Garrett's time has come.  The process is kind of lengthy and very exciting.  It's the culmination of 19 years of preparation.  Later on this week, I'll tell you more about the application process.  So, if you have any questions, feel free to ask and I will answer them in a future post.

To say that we are excited does not do it justice!  Garrett is over-the-moon excited.  And we will all wait on pins and needles until that big white envelope shows up in his mailbox!!!