Mission Call!!!

Josh got his mission call tonight!!! YAY!!!! He was called to Seoul, Korea!! We were all SHOCKED!! He has been learning Chinese in the dual immersion program since kindergarten! He was only one of four boys in his school to pass the Chinese AP test the first time when he was in the ninth grade. 

So far ALL of the Chinese Dual Immersion kids have been called Chinese speaking except for two -- Josh, and Tavin who is going to Thailand. And they are two of the four boys who actually passed the test! (We found out later that the other two boys who passed the AP test on the first try got called to a foreign language other than Chinese also). 

Well, God knows what He is doing and He must know that they can do it!! I was a little disappointed at first that he wasn't going Chinese speaking, but I am really excited for him now and feel good about it. Josh is really excited too and has already started learning Korean!! He will be a great missionary!! 

We had been anxiously awaiting this for a while. Preparing to submit mission papers is quite the process...  doctor appointment, dentist appointment, wisdom teeth out, forms filled out, pictures taken for the headshot... The pictures were a big deal because Josh didn't want to cut his hair -- at least not short enough for a missionary -- until way closer to his mission. But I told him that he needed a haircut for the picture in order for him to submit his papers -- and it needed to be "missionary approved." And I warned him that this picture is the one that would follow him around for the rest of his mission. They use the photo that is submitted with the mission papers for the transfer board from there on out, ha ha! 

I was tempted to set up an appointment for him, but knew that it was important for him to be the one to set up the appointment. He put it off for a while, but then finally went to get a haircut at G.O.A.T. Haircuts with the coupon on the Starving Student Card for a free haircut. When he came home I said that it looked just the same -- I mean it was a little shorter, but not much. At least it was shorter on the sides, but I was expecting all of the curls to be cut off. I wasn't sure it was even short enough for his missionary picture. He said that it would be fine, he would just comb it over to the side. So he did and I took some pictures of him -- some with it combed over to the side and some with it down. Either probably would have been fine, but we ended up going with the one with his hair combed over to the side. Here is the picture! 

And here is him with his hair down...

Anyway, with that out of the way, we set up an appointment for Josh to meet with the Bishop for his final interview on March 17th. (Rick was out of town on a cruise). Josh's papers weren't quite finished (we should have made sure they were completely finished before setting up the appointment) but Josh assured me that they were "almost finished." Anyway, after church he asked if I would help him finish the papers. As soon as we started into it we could see that there was a lot more than we thought. 

Each time Josh clicked on something to fill out it brought up another page of items to be filled out. He was trying to hurry and fill out everything, including family ancestry information, medical and insurance information, and everything else on the list. Then it asked him to upload all of the medical forms. I had already scanned in all of the forms, but for some reason some of them weren't uploading. It kept saying the file sizes were too big. 

So I was trying various tactics such as reducing the photo sizes and changing the pictures to PDF's in order to try and make it work. Then it was time for him to leave for his appointment and we were still trying to get the forms uploaded. I finally told him to go and bring the medical forms with him and we would figure out the rest later. His appointment went fine and the Bishop told Josh to text him when all of the forms were uploaded. 

We finally got that all finished after Josh got back and the Bishop submitted the papers to the Stake President. So now Josh just needed to have an interview with the Stake President and then the Stake President would officially submit the papers. I was thinking that Josh could just see the Stake President the same day, but that was wishful thinking indeed, ha ha! The Bishop said that we should be hearing from the Stake that week to get an appointment set up. 

Well, the week went by and we didn't hear anything, so Josh asked the Bishop about it the next Sunday. Again, I was hoping Josh could get in that Sunday, or that Tuesday, since it was the only Tuesday that Josh had a BYE from soccer. Well, they told Josh to contact the Stake Executive Secretary to set up an appointment. I was wishing we had been told that in the first place. So he did, and they said that the first available appointment was a week from that Tuesday. 

But Josh has soccer games every Tuesday night (except for the 26th when he had a BYE). But that date wasn't open. He said that the next available date would be April 14th! Josh and I were freaking out a little. That was SO far away!! Apparently he couldn't get in sooner because the next couple of Sundays included Easter and General Conference and so the Stake President wouldn't be in his office, and Josh couldn't do Tuesday nights because of soccer. 

Finally April 14th came and Josh was to meet with the Stake President at 9:00 am. I was out of town to help Janika with baby Callan, who had just come home from the NICU. I was stressed about Josh's appointment. He had waited for a month already -- what if he forgot to set his alarm, or didn't wake up on time? Of course Rick always says that I worry way too much about everything. If he slept in then it would be his own fault and he would suffer the consequences. Ya, but still...  Anyway, he is a responsible kid and he did make it to his appointment on time and his papers were finally submitted!! 

We figured that he would get his call in about ten days -- a week from Tuesday. But then a few days later, Josh got a message from the Bishop saying that he had received an email from the senior missionaries who are in charge of screening medical information for the missionaries and it showed that Josh's pulse was put down as 140 -- which was unusual and way too high. It was most likely a clerical error, because Josh is an athlete and his resting heart rate is probably only around 50-55. Anyway, they said he would need to take his resting heart rate two different times on two consecutive days and send the numbers in to them. Because of all that his papers had not been processed and it would be at least an extra week.

Of course I was freaking out again at at the delay, but Josh said that he followed the instructions and turned in the numbers and so it should all be taken care of. So, the next Friday I checked to see if his missionary email had been set up and it HAD!! Jaiden had said that if you want to know if your call has been assigned then check and see if the missionary email has been set up. That is a good indication that it has been assigned. It was, which means he would get his call the next Tuesday (April 30) and he DID! 

He had a soccer game that night and so he decided to do that missionary call opening the next day (May 1st). Josh had put down July 31st as his starting availability date. I really wanted him to be able to leave before the colleges start in the fall so that in two years when he returns he can start college right away instead of waiting around for several months. With all of the delays part of me had given up hope that he would leave that early. Many people getting their calls were now leaving in September or October.

Well, he got his call and will be leaving August 12th!! That is perfect!! So in spite of all of the delays he is still leaving on time. He will get home just a week or two before the semester starts. Of course that means I will have to register him for all of his classes and everything, but that's okay!! We are so excited for Josh and all of the adventures that await him!!