Dear Sister Murset

Dear Sister Murset, 

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 México Saltillo 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, October 15th, 2014. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language. Your assignment may be modified according to the needs of the mission president.


It came! Everyone gathered in our living room Sunday evening and watched as I opened it. My knees were knocking together (literally) and my arms went numb! As I was pulling out my call I caught a glimpse of "México." I thought, okay, either I'm going to the México MTC or I'm actually going to México. I decided to just skip ahead and see, haha. I was so shocked! I started crying as soon as I started reading, but managed to get through it. I was still shaking 10 minutes later.

Now let's get to the real talk.

Unlike most people, I did not receive an instant confirmation that I was supposed to be there. In fact I wasn't really feeling anything. I was in shock. I knew that I was going to be going Spanish speaking, but I had never ever considered México! I don't know why it never entered my mind, I just kind of skimmed over it when I was thinking about the places I could go. I had been expecting somewhere in South America. So when I read "México Saltillo Mission" I didn't know what to think. I kept saying what people wanted me to hear, "I'm so excited!" But I really wasn't feeling anything. Don't get me wrong, I had no problem with going to México, but for some reason I was discouraged.

As the evening wore on all I could think about was the weather of Saltillo. I knew I was emotionally detaching myself, but I couldn't help it. I was in shock still and I had no idea what I was supposed to be feeling. But even through all this emotional turmoil, I kept thinking one thing; this mission was made for me.

So I grasped onto that. I held onto that thought with my entire being and I hope that eventually I would feel joy in being able to serve the people of México. The next day as I was making the four hour drive back to Orem, I realized that I was absolutely terrified. I would be going to a country that I have never been to, speaking a language I barely know how to speak, and I would be spending 18 months of my life there. As soon as I got home I hopped on the computer and looked up my mission. I found out that it has a Facebook page, so I went and scoured it. I looked it up on Wikipedia, I looked at Google images, I did everything I could to learn about it. Over time I could feel that glimmer of calm that I had been seeking.

Although it was discouraging not being able to instantly know, I am grateful for the experience and I am receiving blessings every single day because of my choice to serve.

México, here I come!