Where Are You Going?

Where are you going? This has been a question that has been repeatedly asked throughout the past couple weeks and currently I don't know the answer. Let me explain. You see I, Leisa Marino have decided to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Yeah.. I bet you weren't expecting that.. neither was I. When I last posted I talked about all the blooming of love that was in the air and the sweet smell of a relationship that could potentially turn into a long term commitment. So let's just say that didn't work out and move on to the big decision. Needless to say I didn't find my Prince Charming, but there was a reason for this whole mess of a plan. There is ALWAYS a reason. Sometimes we don't always know that reason, but it comes.. eventually.

As I sat in my apartment, teary eyed and completely lost I asked myself this question "what am I doing here?" Here I had thought that I was there to build one relationship when really that wasn't the case. I sat there thinking about how one of my room mates was engaged, another dating a guy seriously, taking a family foundations class and working with a group of developmentally disabled people that I felt inadequate to help. Why on earth was I here? Being me though I decided that it was time after a few days to put the tissues away and make the best out of the situation. I bet you are all chomping at the bit to know what I discovered in this journey into the unknown. Alright, alright I'll tell you. I really needed to learn that family is the most important thing in this whole experience we call life. It took me a while to realize this, but I did. The family is central to the creators plan for the eternal destiny of His children. No I didn't write that myself it's from The Family: A Proclamation to the World. Remember that class I told you about called Family Foundations? Well it seriously blew my mind because we went through the Proclamation in sections, but read the words of the prophets that dig deeper into what it means. Salvation is an individual matter, but exaltation is a family matter. What that means is that families can be forever and we need to work together in order to become the best we can be and reach our full potential. Salvation is nice, but who really wants to go through life and the next life without their family? I had been looking at life the wrong way. Brigham Young University Idaho is a huge bubble filled with people who are eager to learn and who are members of my faith. It is a whole different world than the one I grew up in, so I thought that as long as I stayed there and worked on myself becoming better that that was an acceptable way to live. How wrong was I? Yeah.. realllllllyyy wrong. I then took this opportunity to learn. I prayed a lot and got answers through my daily reading of the scriptures and talks. I prepared myself for what awaited me at home. The problem that I have found though is that I have so many good intentions and plans, but they always change and I learn so much more in the process.

I found that my terror of being inadequate in my internship was short lived after I started to get to know my participants and learned the ways of the facility. Let me just tell you these people had some of the sweetest spirits I have ever seen. If you want to learn patience, love, mercy, compassion... any other Christ-like attribute you can think of.. surround yourself with the developmentally disabled. My heart seriously swelled with love for these amazing people and taught me so much about caring for others. When you love someone it is so easy to serve them. It doesn't even feel like service because it comes so natural. One of my participants in particular won my heart and I am proud to call her one of my best friends. Her name is Gina. She always put a smile on my face and made me feel loved everyday. It was hard leaving all of those precious souls, but like I said I had matters to attend to. I definitely learned how to be a Mom though.. that's for sure.

Now I'm sure you are all wondering what this has to do with me serving a mission. Let me assure you it has everything to do with me serving a mission. When I have thought about a mission before I always felt good about it, but now I have a solid foundation as to what I'm really doing this for. I am doing this for my family. You see my serving a mission will bless my family now and my future family. On top of this wonderful gift I will be able to help others have eternal (forever) families in the process. Let me tell you that Heavenly Father knows what He's doing and He seriously places people and events in my life just when I need them.

For those of you who don't know what serving a mission entails for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (otherwise known as Mormons) I will explain. I've gotten pretty good at this since I am surrounded by people who have no idea what I'm talking about currently. In our faith guys are expected to serve missions when they are 19 and serve for two years. Girls aren't given the same expectations because we are working towards becoming better mothers and wives. As a woman if you decide to serve a mission you have to wait until you are 21 and you serve for 18 months. Currently I am in the process of filling out my application so that is why I don't know where I am going. All I have to do is go to a couple more doctors appointments and meet with the Stake President (one of our Church leaders) and I will be all set to submit them. My application will then be sent to Salt Lake City, Utah where the general authorities will prayerfully assign me to where the Lord wants me to serve. That's right folks.. the big guy upstairs decides where I need to go, I don't get to request where I go. I can however request places that I would not like to go, but since I can't think of any I am open to everything. I could stay in the United States or go to a foreign country. Heck, I might even learn a language. After the general authorities assign me to a mission they will send me a call letter, which will tell me where I'm going and give me other information. In this letter there will be a date that I enter the MTC (Missionary Training Center) in Provo, Utah where I could be anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks depending on my mission and if I have to learn a language. From there I will be off to my mission. We are paired up in companionship's (which change every so often) and then sent out into the world to find people who want to or are willing to hear about our Church. There you have it folks. That is a brief summary. If you would like to learn more talk to any Mormon friends you may have or ask some Missionaries that you may run into. They will be wearing name tags that say Elder or Sister ________ (insert last name) and then say The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Some of you are probably saying well that's all fine and dandy, but how did you get to this point where you were sure that this was something you should do? Well the truth was I wasn't really sure. Some people have a definite impression that they should go, or have a duty to (aka the men get the easy card of just knowing they should go). Mine has been more of an exploratory road. Elder Scott has said that the Lord answers prayers in three ways. He will either give you a calm reassurance from the Spirit that He approves of your decision, He will give you a firm or uneasy feeling if He doesn't want you to do something or He won't do anything because He wants you do act. This was my answer.. absolutely nothing. That is it was nothing until I acted. I had originally planned on going back to school in the Fall. I had my apartment contract, my classes picked out and everything was going to be great. My mom had originally told me that I was to wait until after I finished school to serve a mission, but then one day as I was talking to her she asked me if I had thought about taking 18 months off and serving a mission. That made me think. The ironic thing about this whole situation is that my room mate Emily had been baptized in March and I had been there for all of her missionary discussions and new member discussions. The Sister missionaries were always at our house and it was awesome. Sister Schaeler was the one though who really helped me make my decision. She had been telling me I should serve a mission for a while and when I told her about my mom asking me about it she was like well just do it! I went to my adviser in the Psychology department and he told me that it would be the perfect time to go, that way I would have two more semesters to get me into the school spirit again before taking the GRE and getting letters or recommendation for grad school. I talked with my best friend Amy about it too and she was just like Leisa just do it. You never know if you try. After that there was a girl who walked into our apartment and asked if any of us were selling our contracts. Hello? Do I hear angels singing? That's God's way of telling you that He's going to help you out once you make a decision that He approves of and actually act upon it. Then I found someone to sell my bike to really fast and went and talked to my bishop. Now the story is history.. well kind of.

I don't know where I will be going, but I do know that it's where I'm supposed to be. All I need to do is prepare and work towards being the best person I can be for that place that awaits me and for the people I will meet. Not the end.