Just this past month the mission calls started going paperless, so there isn't any waiting by the mailbox and we were really happy about that! We had my cute neighbor Annie log into Elise's LDS account and come and print out the papers. Elise wanted to print it so she wasn't "reading ahead" on the iPad since its a little trickier to not see the location. It was so hard to wait! Although I was NOT going to peek because I definitely didn't want to know before Elise and Jared. Elise had to sit at work and stare at her phone knowing she could open that email at any time! One of her bosses told her she should just open it. Lol!
Most girls I know have been called stateside. Many people prefer this because there are lots of benefits to stateside missions. However, Elise was sure that her call was going to be foreign. She REALLY wants to learn a language and being the adventurous girl that she is was really hoping to have the experience of living in a foreign country. Plus her patriarchal blessing talks a lot about her mission and it really seems to suggest different cultures, etc.
I think I must have said over and over that it would probably be somewhere in the US. That was starting to annoy her! But I explained I just didn't want her to be disappointed and that it is going to be an adventure wherever she serves. She responded with this: "Mom, if I get called stateside, I probably will be a little disappointed but then I'll get excited about it." This was reassuring to me because I know her easy going nature and I know she WILL be fine either way.
We had lots of family friends come to watch her open her call. Skye flew out from LA to be here! I seriously want to cry just thinking about how lucky Elise is to have such loyal and amazing friends! What an amazing group of people pictured above, from neighbors and friends since she was a baby, family, roomies, friends, lacrosse teammates, yeah I just love all these faces!
I'm SO glad she didn't peek because it was really cool to see her reaction when she opened her call and found she was assigned to serve in the
Milan, Italy mission!
Wow! There are so many places she would have been thrilled to go but honestly the northern half of Italy is just kinda insanely lucky. Such a beautiful place with amazing food and really kind people. Its still going to be hard. She knows this. But wow, she is over the moon.
I called her the next day and let her know that I was so excited I could hardly sleep. She said it was the same for her! Then I talked to my mom and she said she couldn't sleep either!
Knowing Elise and her easy nature I am most excited for her to serve the people in Italy in any way that she can! I know she will work hard and be a great example to those around her. She will learn and grow to stretch her comfort zone and gain new skills that will help her in the future.
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| Elise and My "Little" Brothers! Luke, Sam, Max |
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| Roomies! |
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| Skye! |
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| Peter! Friends since 8th grade! |
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| Guess who picked Niger. Lol. |
