Emotions of Preparing for a Mission

This post needed illustrations...enjoy :)


Preparing for a mission is an emotional roller coaster ...whirlwind ...you just name the emotional cliche and that'll sum up the experience. So for those who've never had the pleasure, or have forgotten what it's like, I've broken it down into 7 phases... I'm currently in phase 5 so I had a little help for knowing phases 6 and 7.

PHASE 1 - The Papers

Filling out your papers is so exciting and slightly nerve-racking! 

PHASE 2 - The Waiting

Checking the mail EVERY second! Also phase 2 is full of excitement and wonder, you can imagine yourself in any and every mission...

PHASE 3 - The Call

SaaaAaaAhhh Excitaaaaaaaaahd

PHASE 4 - The Waves

Different events bring waves of emotion

PHASE 5 - The Calm

Going on a mission just feels normal. Everyone is making a huge deal out of it, but everything is going well, it's going to be good.

PHASE 6 - The Freak-out

WHHHHYYYYY??? WHY IS I GOING????

PHASE 7 - The End of the Prep

Set apart, excited, sad to leave, peace...

Only a turtle...

Preparing for a mission is daunting to say the least. If you’ve ever seen the Swan Princess, you’ll have seen the part where Speed says, “I’m only a turtle.” Hopefully you know the part I’m talking about. I couldn’t find a clip of it on YouTube, but that’s exactly how I feel. People say stuff like, “Oh you’ll be an excellent missionary!” or “You’re gona be awesome!” and I feel like saying “I’m only a turtle.”

Sometimes I feel super excited, like I did when I first opened my call. It’s amazing!! I’m actually going to my dream mission. I happily ride my small wave of excitement until I’m hit by the tsunami of terror!  There’s so much left to do, and so much to think about! And I don’t even have the stress of a visa like Railee or my other friends. Yet it stresses me out like crazy. The money, the packing, the shopping (puke), the money, the language, the vaccinations, the money, the BYU stuff… everything!

I attempted to read a few lines of my Romanian Book of Mormon compared against my English Book of Mormon. Each word just increased my urge to vomit.

 Scary!!!!!

But I have Faith, and I have hope. I know the Lord is going to bless me and it’ll be awesome when I have time to dedicate myself wholly to learning the language and serving the Lord.

I know that the Lord has been preparing me for years! I love Romanians, Romania, and the language of Romanian. My Romanian Book of Mormon was a gift from Colin for my 19^th birthday.

Here’s his heartfelt message ;) 

I went shopping today for missionary clothing! YAY clothes boooooo shopping! I tried on almost everything in my size at Ross, and found some good stuffs! There’s a particular color of blue that I find irresistible. After today I own about 6 different tops of different styles all in that same blue. It’s a sort of teal/blue. I loves to wear it I do! I also bought some really comfy shoes. I tried them on as a joke because I thought they were something my Grandma might wear, but they turned out to be cute! They’re a coral/orangey colour. I normally wouldn’t allow my shoes to resemble duck’s feet but I just couldn’t resist the comfyness of them! 

It’s gona be awesome! I know it is. I just need to wait out fear and let the faith take over! Maybe my duckie shoes will help me to overcome fear and get all excited abouts it!