Hyrum on the eve of his mission

The end of April to mid-June has been an intensive time for our family. Hyrum returned from BYU - and I plan on putting up some posts about that time - but more importantly he is becoming a fulltime missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints later this evening.

Feb 11 Hyrum received his call to the Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Mission, which encompasses the western portion of PA and small pieces of NY, OH, and WV. That area includes where Joy lived as she got her masters degree in counseling.

In his immediate preparations since receiving the call, he took a mission prep class at BYU, was ordained an elder, and entered the temple for the first time. He drove up at 4 in the morning every Friday with his mother (a current temple worker) to the temple to spend half the day serving in the House of the Lord. Today he will finish reading the Book of Mormon (for the 28th time), which he restarted once he received the call. There has of course been lots of purchasing and outfitting - with thanks to my parents and cousin Laurel - and packing.

H: I just wake up every morning and do my thing and go to sleep.

There has of course been time for fun as well - lots of tennis and time with us. But how are you feeling on the early morning eve of being set apart?

H: Honestly there's been a lot of suspense, and I've been waiting for it to start for a while. Like, I want to hold on to my last bit as a regular person, but I also want it to start. I am super excited about getting the opportunity to serve the Lord and bring lots of people to Him, and hopefully I figure out sometime how to do that. 

H: I think about the three Nephites and how maybe it hadn't possibly been a very long time since Jesus had first called them when He asked them what they wanted most and they asked to teach the word for ever and continuously bring other people to Him. Maybe they hadn't fully figured out how that worked yet, and I know that's something I want and have that opportunity to do. I'm happy to get the chance.

When I remember my mission prep, I read through several classic gospel books: A Marvelous Work and a Wonder by LeGrand Richards and The Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball and a few others. I'm not 100% certain, but I think I also read War and Peace for some reason - my freshman year at BYU gave me a taste of very long literature. 

H: I wish I had taken the time to read some of those books too. They sound interesting.

But I haven't ever worried that Hyrum didn't understand the gospel. He knows a lot of facts about it, sure. More than that, he sees how the Atonement of Jesus Christ is central to everything, and correctly puts second things second.

H: That's something I've really learned in the last few months.