In the beginning

A week from today I'll enter the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, UT. I expect to stay there for about three months, studying Chinese and learning ways of presenting and explaining the Gospel (i.e. the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) to investigators (people being taught by the missionaries). From the MTC, I'll go directly to Taiwan where I'll stay until November 2009.
I decided to go on a mission sometime around February of this year. I had thought about it on and off throughout my life, but had been hunkering down to decide since about December. I made endless lists of pros and cons, but it really boiled down to trying to find out what I thought God would most like me to do with the next portion of my life. Fortunately, he decided to pass on that information to me during one of my church meetings at BYU, and I haven't looked back since. I've had a lot of time to think about the things I'm giving up (which probably aren't that weighty, but they feel substantial to me). The thing is, I've never made any sacrifice for the sake of my religious beliefs that I regretted; I think empirical evidence from my life is 100% consistent with the idea that blessings for sacrifices are way better than whatever was given up. Considering how difficult the sacrifices of a mission may be for me, I have no doubt that there are some pretty amazing blessings in store. To sum up, I feel great about the chance to serve a full-time mission.




Preparing to open the call with my moral support team (Jeff, Rem, and Kirsten, who is taking the picture).

Teleconferencing Mom and Dad in for the moment of call-receiving truth.