See ya in 18 months!

Well I have pretty much been the worst blogger ever the past couple weeks... but this will probably be my last post because TOMORROW I AM SET APART AS A MISSIONARY!!!! Oh my goodness I am SO excited for this opportunity!! And I've discovered two happy little coincidences - tomorrow (the day I am set apart!) is Daniel's 200th day out as a missionary! And then alphabetically on the list of all the missions, Cape Verde is right next to Chile :) Haha kind of random but it made me happy :)

So that is it! The church is true! I love it with all my heart! And here's to the next 18 months!!! :)

My Mini Farewell

I spoke in church today! And to my surprise it was FANTASTIC!! I am totally the kind of person who writes out word for word what to say -- including my introduction and testimony at the end right down to "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen". It was a pretty short talk because my ward wanted as many students leaving on missions to speak before we leave for Christmas. But I was still SO nervous!! I hate speaking in front of people! Like to the point I start to breathe really shallowly and get really tense and totally forget what I'm trying to say. That is probably my biggest fear about going on a mission. I am going to have to give lots of talks, lessons, spiritual thoughts... stuff like that EVERY DAY!! I have been praying so much and trying to get past that so that won't hold me up for the next 18 months. So anywho... back to my talk story. I walked up to the podium and looked up at the congregation. All my fear and stress totally left!! I was not nervous at all!! And I ended up only using my word for word written up version of my talk as a reference! I looked up at people almost the entire time and didn't even think anything of it! It was a Christmas miracle!!! And not only did it make me super happy to get through my talk today, but it made me feel so much better about my mission! I know giving talks and lessons and everything will still be hard, but I know that I will have the Lord's help and that it'll all be ok :)


P.S. I AM LEAVING A MONTH FROM TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Temple Square

Yesterday I got to spend pretty much the whole day up on temple square! I went up with a few of my friends to go to the huge future sister missionary gathering. We wanted to take the frontrunner since it was free yesterday, buuuut we didn't really think about the bunches and bunches of other people who were thinking the same exact thing. So we ended up having someone come save us and we drove up to Salt Lake. But by then we had pretty much missed the get together... oh well. So we just walked around temple square and talked to lots of the sister missionaries! :) It was great!

Then I got to go do a session in the Salt Lake temple!!! And let me just say... I thought I loved the temple before getting my endowments... and it just gets so much better!! I got to go for the first time in the Portland, OR temple with my family over Thanksgiving. And I seriously just love the temple. It is the best place ever. I had been the only one of my group to do a session since no one else has gone yet. So at the end there were all these huge groups of people there together and I felt just a little lonely that I was by myself (only not too lonely since it is the temple and it was still beautiful and amazing and peaceful and like nothing else!) So I went and sat on a couch by myself. Like 30 seconds later this lady came over and asked if I was there by myself. I said yes and so she stayed and chatted with me for a little bit. When I told her I was there because I am about to serve a mission in Cape Verde, she got so excited!! She was there with a family whose son is there right now!! So when they came in we all talked about Cape Verde and their son and my mission! It was meant to be! The Lord is so aware of our thoughts and our needs and is so ready to help us :)

Afterwards I got to see all the beautiful lights and everything on temple square. It was such a perfect day :)

Change

I am still trying to grasp how much has changed over the past couple months! Two months ago today I made the decision to serve a mission! And here I am now, done with school for the next 18 months, and getting myself ready to go preach the gospel to the people of Cape Verde!! I could not be happier! I am still an emotional roller coaster at times, but things really could not be better! Letters and emails are my favorite things ever! This week I finally got the first letter from him since he found out where I'll be going. And can I just say that I love that boy?!? He is the sweetest. I am so excited that we get to (kind of) share the experience of going on a mission! And I was just thinking about how even though we'll get back just about the same time, he'll be the one at the airport anxiously waiting for ME to come home! And I seriously cannot wait until that moment :)

I Won't Give Up :)

This is pretty much my favorite song. Even if it makes me cry every time.

I sure love that red-headed missionary :)

I am going WHERE?!?!?

My mission call came yesterday!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness!! It was the longest day OF MY LIFE!!! I had class and work most of the day and couldn't open it until 8pm! But then 8 came!!! I skyped my family and had at least 4 phones on speakerphone. And my little apartment was packed full of my roommates and friends and my sister!

I opened the big white envelope and pulled out my call!! My hands were shaking so much I could hardly read it! And it said.....

"Dear Sister Turley: You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Cape Verde Praia Mission..."

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I actually didn't even know where in the world that was or how to pronounce the city! As it turns out, I will be spending 18 months on these 10 BEAUTIFUL islands off the coast of AFRICA!!!!!!!!

Yep. Pretty much I'll be living in PARADISE!!

I report to the Provo MTC January 9th! So soon!! And I'll be speaking Portuguese! Which is kind of a scary thought... but really I have no doubt that I can do it. It's going to be super challenging, but the Lord has obviously been guiding the entire last month of my life. He knows that I can do this, so I know I can do this!

I am so grateful and excited for this opportunity!!! I don't know how I'm going to finish out this semester when all I can think about now is going on a mission to Cape Verde!!! 

If mail wasn't exciting enough

My mission call is IN THE MAIL!!!!! My bishop just let me know that I've officially been assigned a mission and that I'll get the call in the mail any day now!!!! AAAHHHHH!!!! So on top of already checking the mail for letters from Daniel every time I get a chance, now I have my call coming too!!!!!! I can't wait!!!!!!