Nick was asked to speak in church on October 15 as a sort of mission farewell talk. We only had a weeks notice so no time to get family from out of town here. And he still didn't officially have a call. We kept asking our Bishop and Stake Leaders what was taking so long! Finally on Saturday October 14, he received his call in the mail. The mission call for a young church service missionary is different from traditional mission calls. (What about this process hasn't been different?!?) The missionary already knows the assignment when they open it, and it's assigned from the Stake President instead of from SLC. Still a very exciting day and it made things seem very real all of a sudden!
Nick gave a great talk in church. So many people told us how touched they were by the spirit he has and by his testimony, and by the fact that he spoke without using any notes! The Bishop and Stake President came over that night to set him apart as a missionary and representative of Jesus Christ and His Church. That's always a powerful spiritual experience. And one advantage of having a service missionary is that Mom got to put his missionary name tag on him for the first time!
Nick with President Hansen and Bishop Tomlinson
Nick before he left for Midwest Food Bank on Monday, October 16
Nick left our house to serve at Midwest Food Bank on Monday morning, and....was told that the assignment had fallen through. He spoke with his mission leaders, Elder and Sister Packard and Elder and Sister Pugmire, and they started looking for another assignment.
On Thursday, October 19 Nick was able to do his first real work as a missionary. He went to the Chandler Records Operations Center and worked on old immigration files to get them ready for indexing. And when he came home, he had a surprise. His door was decorated to celebrate his missionary service. We love him!
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