The Mission Call is Here !!!!

Well, I know you're all anxiously waiting to hear where the mission call will take Ethan for the next two years of his life! (All two non family members of you, Cheryl and Tom, who might not already know. I don't think I have a lot of "followers".)

Thursday, September 10th, Ethan walked through the front door while 9 Activity Day girls were eating ice cream and Carol White (who teaches them with me) was teaching the lesson around our kitchen table. He looked particularly happy and it soon became evident that he had THE ENVELOPE!!!

Much to the disappointment of the girls and Carol, he had to wait until Kai got there and had also gotten all his siblings on the phone (one on each of our phones, except Amy who was already there). So they were long gone by that time.

Around seven that evening with everyone on the phone to one sibling or another, he opened it. The place where he'll be serving for the next two years will be .........

The Slovenia/Croatic Mission.

He will report on the 16th of December to the MTC in Provo, Utah, to learn to teach the Gospel and learn the Croatian language. To learn to teach the Gospel in the Croatian language, actually!

Different Languages are spoken in most of the six different countries in the mission. The countries are Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro.

It is difficult to express in words how excited we are. Especially Ethan! He has started finding internet sites to learn Croatian. Here's his latest, Croatian games or something:

http://digitaldialects.com/Croatian.htm

A lot to do before he reports. Warm clothes and shoes made for walkin' to buy. Luggage and all the stuff like alarm clock and electical converter thingy. He has to apply for his passport and visa, get the required immunizations. He's still working at One Stop Equipment Rental, adding to the mission fund. He is also coreographing for his sister's drama class, they're doing Thoroughly Modern Millie (which he was in, the chorus, at BYU) and coaching for the band, high brass, at Ramona High. So he's pretty busy. And he recently recorded with a band here in Ramona playing trumpet. I will put the link for that on here too if I can figure out how, or if it's possible. I love it. It has a '40's sound.

The mission and related matters are about all we're thinking about right now!

We love you, Ethan. You'll make the best missionary. And we'll miss you.

The Mission Call

We are waiting patiently. For some reason it's hard to wait when you'll be finding out where you're going to be living and working (for the Lord) for the next two years! It's even hard for us who will stay behind.

Ethan has submitted his mission papers and we should find out soon where he'll be going. By soon I mean within the next two weeks. By soon Ethan means any day now and he's checking the mailbox everyday after work. He has imformed us that we're not to get anywhere near the envelope. He has also informed us that he will open it by himself and THEN will make the annoucement to everyone.

Here's a picture of our, soon to be, Missionary. Also a picture of the picture-taking process.