McKay's Mission Call!

It's HERE!!!  But he's NOT!!!   McKay is on his senior trip to California and his call is in Utah.  It came in the mail when I was in Ogden on Thursday and Dave sent me a text with this picture!  My heart sank!  We both text McKay but he didn't see it until that night because he was at Six Flags all day. 

OH. MY. GOSH!

WHERE? WHERE? WHERE? WHERE? WHERE?

I am going to have to stare at that thing for TWO LONG DAYS until he gets home!  Before he left he told me that I could peek if I wanted to.  Oh man, I DO want to, but then again I am actually afraid to know!  I'm scared to find out where he is going to be spending the next TWO years of his life!  It could be ANYWHERE in the world!  My baby!  Going anywhere in this huge world for TWO WHOLE YEARS!  This is going to be tough to wait.  But I'm not going to peek.  Even though I want to know (kinda), I feel like he should know before I do! 

So right there it is going to sit...unopened!

My cute friend Jamie sent this yummy chocolate bread over.  Her son is serving in the Canada Calgary Mission.  I could handle that! 

McKay got home from California on Saturday night about 6:00 pm.  We scheduled the grand opening for 8:00 pm.  He was very excited and I have no idea how he could wait any longer once he got home, but he was good!  

Oh my, I was so nervous!  I honestly was scared to find out where he was going.  And now I know why.  Something deep inside me knew it was going to be a challenge, mainly for ME to fully accept where he was being called to serve for TWO years far away from home.  I think that is why I couldn't peek at his call while he was gone even though he said I could.  I think I just knew it was going to be somewhere that was going to be hard for me...not necessarily for him, but for me - and I didn't want to have to deal with that anxiety for two days without being able to tell anyone else.  I was also worried that he would be disappointed if he wasn't called somewhere foreign and if that was the case I didn't want to have to worry for two long days about that.

I could tell McKay was getting nervous too.  He ran off to his friend's house who was opening his call at 7:00 and that was a good distraction for him. He got home about 7:30 and was so anxious to open that thing!  I was starting to feel my nerves!  We told everyone to be there by 8:00 and about 7:50 he kept asking if he could open it.  I told him he had to wait until everyone was there. My parents who are always early to everything got there five minutes after eight. He was so anxious by then to rip that thing apart!  We had everyone make a guess where they thought he would be going and then put the guesses on the world map.  I was really struggling with where to guess.  I was thinking he may be going stateside only because he wanted to go foreign so bad...hah.  I couldn't even think of where to guess!  So Mackenzie told me to close my eyes and she spun me around until I was dizzy and had me point on the map.  I pointed to Russia!  First thing out of my mouth was, "Russia is the LAST place I want him to go!"  But I wrote it down and put it on the map.  I was the only one that guessed Russia.  I wouldn't say I guessed, it was more of a "spin the pin on the map".  After that I did my real guess and put Australia.

Where in the world is Elder McKay going to be serving?

As you can see they were all over the world!  Taylor even guessed Iraq.  Very funny Taylor!

McKay's top three choices were:

1. New Zealand
2. Australia
3. North Carolina (because that's where his favorite football team the Panther's are!) 

The only people he wanted to come besides the immediate fam were his grandparents and Weston.  He didn't want any of his friends here which I thought was unusual because McKay is Mr. Social.  Not sure if we could have fit all of his friends in our house anyway because it would have been packed.  Taylor had brought his roomie CJ with him and Weston brought Mackenzie.  We got Skyler on FaceTime and then the big moment arrived!!!

Yikes I was SO NERVOUS!  I seriously was freaking out!

The tension was buliding!   The nerves were on edge!  He put the envelope on top of it so he couldn't see it until he read each word.  He was taking his time and everyone kept yelling, "WHERE! WHERE?"

Dear Elder Wilding 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 RUSSIA VLADIVOSTOK MISSION!!!

 RUSSIA!!!!!  REALLY???? Gulp...

That kid was so happy as was pretty much everyone!  Everyone that is except me!!!  RUSSIA?  Really?  This is going to take some heavy duty faith on my part!!!  That is the last place I was hoping for!  But he was extremely excited!

Yep!  Russia!  SO very far away RUSSIA!  The excitement in the room was palpable.  It was ignited with shock, wonder, awe, and a mothers WORRY!

 
And here I worried he would be going stateside and would be disappointed!  The craziest thing of all is YOURS TRULY is the one who pinned RUSSIA on the map!  ME!  Even though it was a blind folded guess, it was from ME!

No I did not pinpoint his exact city, we moved the pin to point to that after. 

So was it Inspiration or InSPINation?  Or just luck?  Not sure, but it was kinda crazy! I think it was one of those tender mercies from Heavenly Father to reassure me that this was where he really is supposed to be going!  That gave me some peace.

 This ↓ is how I was feeling at this point!  haha

But this boy was more than excited!  He couldn't quit smiling!  Really neither could anyone else (with the exception of moi - I pretty much was in shock!).

So to Russia he will go....

My baby boy serving a two year mission in Russia!

His mission boundaries are HUGE.  It's the largest geographical mission in the church!  It's gonna be COLD!  He has to buy his coat, gloves, hat, and boots over there because they don't make anything warm enough over here!  Whaaaaaaaat?!!!

I rounded up the guesses and pointed them all to HIS destination! 

He leaves in TWO MONTHS!  He leaves on June 17th!  CRAZINESS!  That is absolutely crazy!  12 days after he graduates from high school!  10 days after he graduates from seminary!  Did I mention this is crazy?!  That is not much time to get ready!  My head was just spinning!

We are all so proud of this boy!  There are no words for how hard it is going to be to let him go.  I am going to miss him so!  But I am also so grateful he choose to sacrifice two years of his life to be a representative of Jesus Christ and to take the gospel that he loves so much to the people of Russia.  No matter how many missionaries you send out, it never gets easier even though this is what we taught them and what we prayed and hoped for. But there is also no greater joy than to see them grow up and make the decision to stand for truth and righteousness. My heart is bursting with the pain of letting him go while at the same time it's bursting with joy for the stalwart example he is and for the incredible young man he has become. He is going to greatly bless the people of Russia with that radiant smile of his and his joyful spirit. There are no words to describe how much I am going to miss this boy, but I am so proud of him and the choices he has made. Such a bittersweet experience! I keep telling myself the blessings always outweigh the sacrifice. We send them out as boys and they return as men of God!

We are all so proud of this young man! 

Mr. Cat was pretty excited too!

Missing Skyler and Tyson...  Sky was beyond excited for him and I'm sure Tyson is just beaming up there because I think he had something to do with this!

Blessings to the people of Russia...  It is easier to sacrifice these two years knowing that it will bring great blessings to those seeking the gospel!

 

Now for a little trip down memory lane....

Going way back....

The day we dropped Skyler off at the MTC before he headed to Indiana.

Who would have ever thought that littlest guy would be serving a mission in Russia someday? Not me...but that's where he is going to be a representative of Jesus Christ!

Sending Taylor off to Brazil.
These pictures rip out my heart!  McKay has such a tender heart!  I can't even imagine telling him goodbye when the time comes.  It's going to be beyond tough!

Going way back...

This is at his birthday party when he turned EIGHT!  He wanted a missionary party!  All the boys wore white shirts and ties and the invitations were mission calls.  They were all called somewhere different.  The games were stations of sewing on buttons, pin the tie on the missionary, and they even taught discussions.  It was one of the funnest party's I ever did!

 The invitation is in the middle -the white shirt is origami and yes I made each one by hand!  Their mission call is the orange and it also had flight plans.  The goody bag was full of things a missionary would need...toothpaste, toothbrush, play money, etc. I really wish I could remember all what was in it! 

 The ELDERS!
They are all seniors in high school now!

Four of these boys have their mission calls...one to Texas (Derek), one to Nebraska (Tanner), one to El Salvador/Belize (Parker), and McKay to Russia. Can't wait to hear where the rest will go.  I should go see if I saved in my file where they were called to for the party!  One of them is not a member of our church (the one in the tan shirt) but he just got back from being a foreign exchange student in Brazil.
 

 Some of the games...proselyting, pin the tie on the missionary, etc.

 Oh how I love all these boys!  They are such a great group!

 Present time!  That's Taylor in the top left photo.  I made him help me and wear a white shirt and tie too.  His friend Tyler also helped out.

 

These pictures just make me laugh so hard!  FUTURE MISSIONARIES there for sure!  ☺ WOW, how time flies!  It was hard to imagine this day even coming way back then!

♪♫ We'll bring the WORLD his truth!!! ♫♪
Gives me chills!

Deep sigh...