Você fala Português?

As I'm sure many of you know, I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka LDS aka Mormon). In October 2012, during General Conference, the ages at which young men and women are able to serve missions were lowered, to 18 for the gentlemen and 19 for the ladies. This caused quite the hubbub for the entire world*, naturally, and I quickly submitted my papers. I recieved my call on November 15 to the Portugal Lisbon mission! I report to the MTC in April (yeah, it's a long wait, I know. Trust me... I know).

So why, you may ask, would a 19-year-old girl (or guy) decide to drop everything in the middle of the school year to move across the globe, to a place she doesn't know, to try to teach strangers in a language she doesn't speak?

Gooooood question.


For the full answer, you can read my mission blog here. The short answer is I feel like this is what God wants me to do right now. But, I am VERY nervous. First of all, I'll be in the MTC for six weeks. SIX. That's only a month and a half to learn Portuguese. An entire language in 42 days? In six weeks in my high school Spanish class I learned how to say "Hi", "How are you?", "I'm hungry", and "Where's the bathroom?". But now I have to learn Portuguese well enough to not only  function, but also to teach people about a whole new way of life. Next. Missionaries have a set of rules to keep them on track, all written out in a small, white booklet. That "little" book, however, is 81 pages long. 91 if you count the table of contents and Information pages. It outlines dress and grooming, schedules, music, and communication with your friends and family, among every other miniscule aspect of daily life. It won't be that bad.... I hope. I'm just going to miss... everything about normal life.
Well, maybe not everything. Some things I'll miss a lot. 
1. Like my family. They are, first of all, hilarious. Also the youngest was my Valentine:

Found this outside my door the night before Valentine's day 

Also look how cute we are:

I love them lots. 

2. My best friend. Sometimes I'm just like, this girl is so weird. And that's what I love about her. Also I think I have to like her because we're basically the same person.

She actually is my favorite though. But don't tell her that. She'll start acting like she's famous or something. 

3. Taylor Swift. She has a song for any emotion you're feeling, as long as it's sad.

4. Pants...

5. Fry sauce. I loathe mayonaisse, and don't really like ketchup either, but somehow when you mix them together and maybe throw in a bit of pickle juice it becomes a delicious cocktail from heaven's own drive-thru. And apparently it's only available in Utah and southern Idaho.

Speaking of Idaho, look at this potato. And Kalen being weird again. ♥

6. Being alone. Like not in a sketchy, Justin-Bieber-haired teenager way, but just having private time every now and then to be quiet, and alone. Missionaries have to be with their companion 24/7, within sight and sound of each other. (The only exception is the bathroom. Even then you probably have to be able to hear each other... Ew.)

7. Sleeping in... Luckily for me, in the Lisbon mission, the missionaries get to sleep 30 minutes later than most other missions. But that still means getting up at 7 a.m. every day.

But, on the other hand, there are some things I will not miss one smigeon!

1. Dating... It's too much work to go on dates. I have to like, shower, and brush my hair, and I can't change into pajamas right after work... I just love pajamas. 

2. Homework, work, or anything else that has the possibility of failing/expulsion/being fired. 

(Although if I mess up my mission there may be a very different kind of fire in my future... Just kidding.)

3. Being uni-lingual. Okay, I don't think that's really a thing, and even if it is, I don't really notice it, but I am SO excited to be able to learn Portuguese. 

4. Not having friends - since you are stuck with your companion, now you have a friend who can NEVER leave your side - no matter how badly you sing, or how often you don't shower. 

5. WAITING. I've been wanting to go for sooo long, and it was annoying to have to sit at home waiting to turn 21. Or waiting for letters from missionaries. Or even now, waiting to enter the MTC. It's a good thing I wasn't born in the 1400's because being a lady-in-waiting would be the worst job in the world.

Plus, even though I have the pale skin down pat, I don't think I could pull off that tall hair. 

6. Dealing with life. In normal life, you have to decided everything - who to date, what classes to take, what to do with your life... On a mission, you have a schedule you follow very specifically and the only decisions you have to make are whether or not to follow the rules (hint, you should follow them). Everything is handed to you on a silver platter... or rather, in a little white book. 

It'll be a good time. 

Woo! 

*Utah Valley