Where in the World am I going? Billings, Montana?

On the day that they announced the age change for sister missionaries, my initial reaction was, "No way..that's not in my plans. I'm not going."  Then as I continued to watch General Conference, it didn't take more than ten minutes for my mind to start to change.  By the end of the first day of General Conference I was texting my mom to tell her that I wanted to serve.  As I was watching the rest of conference the next two days, I had a very strong feeling about a certain place that I felt that I would be called to if I chose to serve a mission.  Later that week, one of my close friends was called to the place that I felt that I would be called.  I hoped I wouldn't be serving in the same place as him, but I trusted in the Lord.

As short-sighted and immature as this is, I really really wanted to be called to a foreign mission.  I knew that I would be called to the place that I was needed, and that wherever I was called would be right--both for me and the people I served, but I wanted desperately to be called out of the U.S.  I am embarrassed to admit this, but my family and I made many jokes about my call being to Billings, Montana. (Mostly because I hate pine trees, mountains, and the cold.) Side note: I wrote a letter to one of my friends who is on his mission to tell him where I was serving, and I wrote about how scared I was to be called to Montana.  As soon as he saw that my letter was about my mission call he scanned the rest of it to find a place, and the first name he saw was Billings, Montana.  He thought that was where I was called. He got excited and told his companion about it before he realized that I was actually going to Peru. Haha oops.

During the process of completing my mission papers, submitting them, and waiting to open my call, I continued to have a strong feeling about the place where I initially thought I would be called, and the surrounding areas.  (I have no idea why, because I was completely off.)  I had a few thoughts about a couple other places, although no matter what, I was 100% convinced that I wouldn't be called to South America even though I had taken five years of Spanish.  Haha goes to show you how much I know.

After seeing the amount of postage on my mission call, and being certain that I was going stateside (stateside calls require less postage because there is less paperwork), I began to really analyze why I was going on a mission.  Was I going so that I could see the world, or have a study abroad experience?  No way!  I was going because I know this church is true, and I want others to be able to experience the happiness that I feel everyday because of my knowledge of the restored Gospel.  This realization helped me to recognize that I trust that wherever I go will be right, even if it is Billings, Montana.