“Dear Sister Stephenson…” (GALILEE 11/21)

Today was literally one of the greatest days of my life! It was life changing and incredible in so many ways. My mission call (as well as Erin Wankier’s) arrived in Galilee with the cute Stratford family around 2:30 PM but I had to wait until 4:00 PM to open it so my family would be awake (it was 7:00 AM their time). Thankfully we were able to skype…thank goodness for modern-day technology! Before I opened it, I read out loud Matthew 4:18-25—it was only fitting seeing as I was sitting on the shore of the Sea of Galilee! It describes how Christ called Peter, Andrew, James, and John by telling them to follow him, and he would make them fishers of men. They immediately left all, and followed Christ! I thought that was the perfect way to set the scene for my opening my call to serve the Lord.

So…here it is: “Dear Sister Stephenson: 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 Chile Rancagua Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months. You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, March 13, 2013. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language.”

I could not be happier! I am so ecstatic. I know that Chile is where I am supposed to go. Erin and I were able to announce our mission calls to the rest of our JC pals while on the beach right as the sun was setting (Erin is going to the New York New York North Mission--Spanish speaking!). It couldn’t have been better timing! We both couldn’t stop smiling. To be honest I had a headache and felt spiritually and emotionally drained by the end of the day. I’m going on a mission!

Sister Bench and the sister missionaries :)