Called to Serve!

Bentley submitted his mission papers last week on Sunday.  The stake person who conducted his final interview told him he would probably get his call on Tuesday in a little over a week, or the Tuesday after that, so we were looking at the 4th or 11th of February.  And so the great wait began!  We were all completely freaking out!

And then, on Friday (Jan. 31st), as Craig and I were about to leave for the temple, Bentley texted us that he had a message from the Church.  He actually sent a screen shot of it with two texts that both read, "AHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH" and then the calmer, "this is concerning to say the least"

We then had the following conversation:

I should point out that the previous Sunday when we'd talked on the phone, I'd tried to ask Bentley how he wanted to open his call-- did he just want to go to the temple and open it privately?  Did he just want family on the phone?  Did he want to zoom it and invite everyone?  I didn't really have a strong opinion about what he did, I just wanted him to decide so we could make sure it all went down the way he wanted it to!  I didn't want him to look back and be disappointed with the big moment!  But he was very evasive at the time.  

I'm pretty sure what he wanted was to know ahead of time how excited he'd be about his call, and then the more excited he was, the more people he would invite.  But obviously, there was no way to actually make that happen.  You just can't put that cart before the horse, no matter how hard you try.

But with that email, we were a freaking out mess with absolutely no plan!  So he FaceTimed us and we frantically gathered his siblings to hear and it was...  Just the church informing him that they'd set up an email account for him.  Whew.  It was a bit of a letdown, but we REALLY were not ready for his call to come just yet, so that was actually a good thing.  Craig and I breathed a sigh of relief and headed off to the temple and our date night as planned.

But fortunately, this little episode DID serve the purpose of lighting a bit of a fire under Bentley so he actually decided how to open his call: he wanted people there.  He wanted to do the whole "zoom with everyone" thing.  So Craig set up a link (and spent over an hour patiently explaining to his parents how to zoom), and I made a list of people to invite.  We figured we would be at the church for our Tuesday night activities, so we could just start out by letting all the youth watch him open his call and then move on to our activity.  Easy peasy!

(And, since we'll be driving home from Great Wolf Lodge the following Tuesday night, we really hoped it didn't come then!)

I had heard that the fact that his email was set up was a good sign that he'd probably be getting his call.  We were getting close!

So, naturally, on Monday evening as I was just leaving for choir, and my phone was packed away where I couldn't hear it, Craig came running out to catch me yelling, "HE GOT THE CALL!"  Apparently I'd been missing the following texts:

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!  I quickly sent out the email I'd started with the zoom link to everyone I could think of (apparently I missed TWO of my four sisters, though, so I did a terrible job!  If YOU wanted to see it and didn't get an email from me, I am SO SORRY).  We decided he'd open it in about an hour and just hoped that people would see the email in time.  Then I rushed to choir and explained to Michael before we began that I would need to duck out for a few minutes.  The 25 minutes I waited until it was time to step out were AGONY-- who can focus on warmups in a time like this???  I don't even know how Bentley stood it!

The minutes dragged by and finally it was time.  I stood out in the parking lot (thankful that it wasn't too cold of an evening) and got to witness the following:

https://zoom.us/rec/play/A0ERcARszGAImY6g3Oz-BN6iuyOQ80ziuXg6F9TP9Pt4fjVXzCwgWSNslzdUJldtZjsVEA3JfXNPvfUz.vmawEWi15CVc9h4S

(If you click on the link, you can see people's comments in the chat!)

The really pertinent information is around the 8:40 mark.  It's pretty hilarious, though, as he gets a minute into the whole thing only to be interrupted by some random person scream-singing in the distance (???) and when he looks back to his phone, he accidentally glances down and sees where he's going and just can't stop smiling.  

I didn't really care where Bentley went on his mission, but I desperately wanted HIM to be happy and excited about it.  In our ward, the last five missionaries we've sent out have served in: Fresno CA (Spanish speaking), Provo, UT (Spanish speaking), Provo, UT (English speaking), Layton, UT (English speaking) and Oklahoma City, OK (Spanish speaking).  And Bentley really didn't want to go to Utah, but the recent trends certainly seem to be to state-side missions.  Clearly, all of us Virginians need to show those Utahns how the Church is supposed to be done!   But yeah, he was really trying hard to manage his expectations.  

So, yes, you can see it in the video: when he finally saw where he was going-- Puerto Rico, Spanish speaking!!!-- he cannot stop grinning.  He's so happy and excited.  And I am therefore so happy and excited, too!  Also, now that there's no more surprise to not ruin, I should point out that CRAIG TOTALLY CALLED IT ON THE VIDEO (right at 4:30)!!!  Which is just hilarious because this wasn't something we'd ever talked about, and it had certainly never crossed my mind.  How did he do that?

Goodness.  What a whirlwind this has been!  

I have more thoughts, but I'll save them for my next post.  Give me a little more time to process the joy!

I can't believe my son is going to be a missionary!  In Puerto Rico!!!  I know they've seen a lot of hurricanes there, but they ain't seen NOTHING yet!