Elder Hollaaaaaaaa(nd)

Okay seriously. One of my favourite General Authorities is definitely Elder Holland. I just want to get that out there right here and right now. They have all spoken to me at different times of my life and in different ways - I've learned different lessons from their talks and addresses and have been able to apply their teachings to my life and feel inspired by their counsel at different times, don't get me wrong.

But like.

Elder Holland. Is a beast.

I find it so easy to relate to what he is saying because he speaks with so much honesty and in such a blunt manner that there is no way that you could ever walk away confused by what he said. He is filled with the Spirit and I appreciate the effort that he puts into preparing the words he shares at General Conference and in all of his other addresses/articles.

I am a member of a GINORMOUS Facebook group for Sister missionaries (preparing/serving/returned) and their moms, called "Many are called...... but few are sisters." If you don't know what this group is then you need to go and search it up immediately. (Here is a link to the group page in case you can't find it. Send in a request to join and voila. You are on your way to some seriously rad times.) This group is fantastic because it is strictly for sisters, so all things "girl" can be discussed. It is used as both a way to share lessons learned, to ask for advice - for physical, mental, emotional and especially spiritual situations, offer encouragement, share tips about packing and even where and how to buy the right clothing, and almost whatever else you can think of that would be appropriate for a group like that. There are over 11 000 sisters currently on the page, and I have found it to be an amazing resource as I have been preparing for my mission. If you are already returned home from your mission, feel free to join the group too: we need all the help we can get, trust me! I'm sure you remember those days.

SO. Today as I was scrolling through some Facebook posts, I found an article that a sister had posted on the wall of the "Many are called" group. The title was "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence," which struck my interest, and plus ......it was a talk by Elder Holland which especially got my attention. So there I was reading this article.

CAN I JUST SAY THAT FOR GOODNESS SAKE, I HAVEN'T EVEN FINISHED READING IT AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

It offers amazing counsel for those who are preparing to serve missions, as well as anyone who is making any decisions in their life, whether they be big or small.

I recommend it. For real. Please take a moment to read it and let it all soak into the depths of your soul. You can read it here. Inhale, exhale. It is too good.

As a closing thought, here is one of my favourite quotes from his speech:

Yes, there are cautions and considerations to make, but once there has been genuine illumination, beware the temptation to retreat from a good thing. If it was right when you prayed about it and trusted it and lived for it, it is right now. Don’t give up when the pressure mounts. You can find an apartment. You can win over your mother-in-law. You can sell your harmonica and therein fund one more meal. It’s been done before. Don’t give in. Certainly don’t give in to that being who is bent on the destruction of your happiness. He wants everyone to be miserable like unto himself. Face your doubts. Master your fears. “Cast not away therefore your confidence.” Stay the course and see the beauty of life unfold for you.

Stay strong, friends.

Love,

Kat

What is this "Mish Prep" thing any ways??

Seeing as I have started this blog as a way to help me prepare for my 18 month mission in Ukraine, I might as well outline what it is that must actually be done to ensure that I am prepared when the time comes for me to report.

What DO you have to do to prepare for you mission, any ways??
WELL, that is a very big question. Let me try to answer it with all of my mighty wisdom and knowledge. .....*cough*

First comes the decision to serve. Maybe you are a convert to the Church and you desire to help someone in the same way that you were helped, or perhaps you have had a life-changing experience with the Atonement and feel a strong conviction to share it with others. Perhaps you were prompted through a phrase in your Patriarchal Blessing or your heard a talk that stirred some emotions deep inside and you began to feel that serving a mission was the right thing for you to do. Not everyone will serve a mission, but if you have been prompted to serve or look into the process, then don't hesitate to do so. The blessings I have received since I started preparing have been immense, and I haven't even been set apart yet! It's amazing.

Eventually you will begin the process of completing your mission papers. This generally begins with you expressing your desire to serve to your Bishop or Branch President, after which he will be able to allow you access to the online Missionary Portal. This is a portion of the lds.org website which is only accessible to missionaries. There is a section on the website where you can access your mission papers, which are really just a collection of forms that must be filled out entirely before you submit. Some of these forms will need to be printed as you will need to take them to your doctor or dentist and have them filled out, while others, such as the Personal Information form, can be filled out strictly on the computer. As you strive to complete each form, an icon telling each form's status will appear beside it: hasn't been started, in the process of completing, completed. When you have completed all of your forms you click the button at the bottom of the page to submit your papers to your Bishop or Branch President. You then schedule an appointment with your Bishop/BP, in which he will review your mission papers and if he sees that all is in order, he will submit your paperwork to your Stake President. You then schedule an appointment to meet with your Stake Pres and he will give you advice for preparing for your mission (mine gave me specific counsel regarding self-image and what scriptures to read and so on), and will ask you about how you are preparing physically, mentally and emotionally, as well as spiritually for your mission. If you are worthy to serve, he will submit your papers to Salt Lake City within a few days of your meeting.

Your paperwork will arrive in Salt Lake City, be reviewed, and your call will be assigned. Depending on where you live, your call could arrive within a week of being assigned, or, if you're like me and you live in Canada (or any where "International"), your call could arrive as late as 3 weeks after being assigned, or later. My call arrived a day or so after we expected it to arrive, because it was around Christmastime and New Year's, so the post was quite the busy business. However, it still came within about 3 weeks and when it did, I opened it with my family around me. (How you decide to open your call is totally up to you, by the way - you might decide to open it alone, or with many people around you. Just remember that your call is a sacred thing, and should be treated as such. Get excited!)

When you receive your call letter, you will also receive a booklet with specific instructions regarding the next steps in your mission preparation. Some of these steps will be specific to your own mission, but some are also universal. For example, you will be asked to log onto the Missionary Portal (missionary.lds.org) to track your preparation progress. On the Portal there will be instructions specific to you. You will be asked to read the White Handbook (which contains all of the general missionary rules and guidelines), watch 6 specific episodes of The District, create a Mormon.org account, and so on. You will also be required to complete your immunizations (don't worry - you receive this information when you receive your call), and YOU WILL NEED TO WRITE YOUR ACCEPTANCE LETTER ASAP. You will be asked to write it online so feel free to do that. As long as you act quickly and promptly upon receiving your call, you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

All of this is very fine and dandy.

But it is also very 'check-list-y' and 'to-do-ish.' What you're not seeing is the spiritual side of things.

I'm going to be totally blunt here. PREPARING FOR A MISSION IS NOT EASY.

If you find that it is easy, then you are probably doing something wrong. Or, as they say, "Wait for it." I don't say this to instill any sort of fear in you, or to scare you away from the idea of serving a mission. No, rather, I say this as a sort of clarification. Before I received my call, I would get excited about a friend's mission call, hearing about other people's mission stories, and learning of the progress of those who I cared about who were in the field. However, now that I have been through the mission paper application process, and have had my call for about 2 months, when I witness a mission call opening, the experience has so much more meaning for me. And honestly, it's because even though I may not know exactly what my fellow future missionaries have faced in order to make it to the point where they are opening a mission call, I can take a good guess. Because all of us who are preparing have been or will be there to some extent. Our trials are definitely personalised, but to think that you're alone in them is believing exactly what Satan would have you believe. And it's wrong. You. are. never. alone. EVER.

 (to be continued)

"Let's Start At The Very Beginning"

"......a very good place to staaaaAaaAAaaart."

Today is February 24, 2014. This day is a very big day for many reasons, one of which is the fact that February 24, 2014 will only ever occur once. EVER. So that's kind of huge.

But, it is also my 86th last day before I report to the Provo MTC. Annnnnd, that's a big deal. Not because the number 86 holds any significant meaning for me (it really doesn't, in all honesty), but rather because....... this is the only "86th Last Day Before I Enter the MTC" day I'll probably ever have. Suddenly every day becomes significant when you think of it that way, eh.

On a totally different note, I'd like to take you for a ride in my time machine. *you hop in* I'm just going to turn this dial here until it reaches, oh, I don't know, 2009? That's probably a good place to start.

A quick intro, however: I was raised in a Mormon family. My father was raised in a Mormon family as well, his parents being converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (Random fact: my father was named after President David O. MacKay.) My mother joined The Church not long after discovering it, and now here we are, a happy family. From the time that I was a little girl, I think that the thought of a mission was on my mind. I wanted to serve because I knew that it was a good thing, and I wanted to be a missionary. Those feelings only became more and more convicted and strong as I got older.

*time machine starts humming*
*the world around you is spinning*
*everything goes black for a second*
*a hand hits the wall of the machine, and the lights flicker back to life*

"......Sorry, our power sometimes goes out as we travel. It's just a little ting. We've.. we've learned to deal with it."

ARRIVAL: 2009 A.D.
Here we are, in the fabulous year of 2009. At this point in my life I was leaving the world of elementary school and entering into a new realm of existence: h i g h  s c h o o l. Growing up, I spent many of my years in the LDS Primary and Youth programs (ages toddler-11, and 12-19 respectively) with a dear friend by the name of Natasha. We went to each other's birthday parties and knew each other's families better than we probably even understood. The two of us are so very different in so many ways, but the Big Guy knew that it would be important for us to be present in one another's lives, and so we were. In fact, for many years, it was just the two of us in the female portion of the LDS Youth Program that existed in our Branch. We got to know each other very well throughout those years, and she became like a sister to me, experiencing things with me in a silence of understanding. We didn't need words. She's a special kind of friend. Though this friendship extends to FAR before 2009, it is important here too.

Usually the topic of missions would come up something like this: at a youth conference (probably Best of EFY). We're billeting together at a member's home - of course we were billeting together, are you joking?? We talk about all of the cute boys we met at the dance. Actually, scratch that. I talk about the cute boys, she laughs and somehow manages to get off without saying much. Sneaky girl. We laugh about a joke we've had for a while now: The Forbidden Question. "Those boys better not ask ...... *JAWS theme song* ..... THE FORBIDDEN QUESTION!" *unnecessarily ridiculous girlish giggling* 

........ Ask me what the forbidden question was. I dare you.
Uh, okay. Kathleen, what is the forbidden question?

"Will you marry me?"

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we understand the important role that a mission plays in the life of the young man or young woman (or senior couple) that serves. Young men are strongly encouraged to serve because they are needed to further the Lord's work here on the earth today. When they return home they are encouraged to marry in the Temple and raise a family in the gospel. Their mission will help them to be the best husbands and fathers that they can be. Young women are also welcomed into missionary service, and boy do we ever gladly accept our calls to serve (holla atcho gurl). :) However, if the opportunity arises for a young woman to marry a worthy man in the Temple, and she feels as though it would be the right decision to marry him, and he has already served his mission and so on and so forth, she is encouraged to pursue her role as a wife and a mother, allowing that to take presidence over her role as a full-time missionary. Natasha and I jokingly feared that our own personal opportunities to be married would come up before we turned 21-years-of-age and were finally able to serve missions, and so from a young age we joked about avoiding marriage before our missions.

That all changed two Octobers ago, however, when the Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, announced an age-change. Young men and young women were now given the opportunity to serve at younger ages: 18 and 19, respectively. This meant that I would be able to serve a mission at a younger age and then return home, attend post-secondary education, get a job, and somewhere in the mix of those things marry my best friend and raise a family in the gospel. Being able to leave at age 19 meant that I could still serve, but I could now serve earlier instead of whittling away my time or beginning my post-secondary education and then leaving partway through to serve a mission....... and the list goes on. Of course I could still serve at an older age, too, but serving younger worked better for me. This was wonderful news.

I knew that serving a mission was something that I wanted to do, but it took a lot of praying and talking with my Heavenly Father to receive that confirmation that it was what I was supposed to be doing. I always felt that serving a mission would be a good thing, but I wanted to know for sure that it was something that I was supposed to do. And here we are, about a year and a half after I received the answer to my prayers. My answer came in a Priesthood blessing, when I was told that Heavenly Father would support me in righteousness. So there you have it. Some of the essential background facts regarding my choice to serve a mission. VOILAAAAA!

I know that this is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth today. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints contains the fullness of the gospel. I'm so grateful to know that I have a loving Father in Heaven who hears and answers my prayers, and knows my heart inside-out and backwards. He understands me better than I understand myself, and He blesses me more than my little heart can even begin to fathom. I am happiest when I live the gospel and apply its teachings in my life, and THAT, my friends. THAT is why I want to serve a mission. Not because everyone else is doing it, not because I've just always wanted to. No. I want to serve a mission so that my spiritual brothers and sisters can receive the happiness that the gospel brings to our lives. I want them to find hope in the Atonement of their Elder Brother, our Saviour Jesus Christ. I want them to know that they can one day return to their Father in Heaven. I want to see them on the other side and embrace them as we prepare to enter the Celestial Kingdom. That. is why I have chosen to serve a mission.

Blog Post Numero Uno (Honestly What Should I Even Name This Post)

Why hello there, my fellow human being. I see you have found your way to my humble blog. Come on in, take a seat.

First of all, I would ask that you please take a moment to appreciate the name of this blog. "Girl, Ukrai." Let it sink in. It is excellent in every way. It makes me happy. I hope you appreciate it too.

LET'S GET SOME THINGS OUT OF THE WAY:

My name is Kathleen, I am 18-years-old, and I am preparing to serve a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I leave on May 21, 2014, and travel to Utah, where I will be trained for about 2 months in the way of missionary service, and also....... how to speak Ukrainian. Because, ya know, I'm not Ukrainian, and I honestly cannot say that I'm fluent in the language. So. That's slightly important.

From there I will find myself in L'viv, Ukraine, where I will serve for another 16 or so months. I return home to the Red and White in December of 2015, a stronger version of who I am today.

Kathleen, do tell: are you excited for this opportunity?
Well, you know. This is only kinda sorta a HUGE FREAKING DEAL. And, like, I've only really been wanting to serve a mission SINCE I WAS A WEE LASS. But like. Yeah. I guess you could say I'm excited. Sorta.

...........OF COURSE I'M EXCITED, ARE YOU KIDDING ME OR????

This blog is a way for me to record some of my numerous experiences as I prepare for this monumental part of my life. Hopefully you, my reader, will learn from my experiences or just laugh along with me in this crazy, ridiculously awesome adventure that I'm on. Or maybe it'll help you to fill the time as you wait for dinner to cook. Whatever, that's cool too.

"I'm going on an adventure!" Oh Bilbo. What a guy (hobbit).