The Big White Envelope

It came, Cameron's mission call, in its big white envelope. This time around, unlike when his brother's envelope came, Cameron was home, and maybe slightly more excited even than me to get that thing open. For he gave his friends exactly one half hour to get to the house to see him open it and read his letter that told him the destination he would be spending the next two years of his life.

His brother was in Colorado when his own envelope came two years ago. That call sat on my dresser for two days as I awaited his flight home so he could gather his friends and see where he was going. That envelope stared me in the face every time I walked into my bedroom, begging me to take a peek. But, though I tried to see if the flap would lift easily, it was glued fast and there would have been no way of disguising my intrusion had I taken that peek. So, wait I did. But you don't reach 19 years of being a parent without learning some patience and so we all managed to wait for Chris' return two days later for the announcement.

With Cameron, we only had to wait 30 minutes. Then, when he read it, no one believed him! HA! I guess none of us had given this particular location a thought. This was where Jeremy Gratil was supposed to have gone. After all, it is his father who is a native to this country and his mother who served a mission there herself many years before. But, it is Cameron who the Lord is sending to serve at this time to the Philippines Bacolod Mission and he will need to learn a new language, Tagalog!

And there is the possibility he will wear a man skirt and sandals on this mission of suits and ties. Cameron said it does not get any better than that!

A few kinks must be worked out, however, since his date to report to the MTC in Provo, UT is the very same day Chris is due home from his mission in Nashville, TN! We will definitely have to get that figured out since we cannot be two places at once! But for now the scramble is on for a passport and a Visa and immunizations, and all the things necessary to prepare a young man for the best two years of his life! And maybe to prepare his mom as well...............