Ever since I was a little
ginger gal in primary when we would sing “I Hope They Call Me on a Mission,” I
would think “I know they are going to call me on a mission.” Turning twenty-one
seemed so far away so that although I knew I would go on a mission one day it wasn't something that I thought about a lot. It was so matter of fact that it
was going to happen there was almost no reason to waste my day dreams on it.
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| Lil' ginga' grade one |
Starting seminary in grade
nine was the start of my turning point. I started reading the scriptures
everyday with the encouragement of my seminary teacher. Prior to this I knew
that the church was true, I had a testimony. However, it was mostly a borrowed
testimony. Grade ten was the major turning point in my life. This is when I
decided that I was going to keep all of the commandments, this is when I really
started to make friends, this is when I decided that the gospel was the most
important thing to me, this is when I messed up the most, and this is when I
learned the most.
The summer after grade ten my
friend Kathryn and I were driving around on a classic Raymond cruise. When she
said to me “Shealeigh, don’t go on a mission, and leave me here all alone.” I
was completely taken off guard. If anything at that point in my life I should
have been worried that she thought I didn't want to go on a mission, not that I
might. I laughed it off and said something along the lines of “yeahhh, I’m only
seventeen so I have a lllooonnggg time before we need to talk about that.” (p.s.
seventeen to twenty-one goes by reaaally fast.) Randomly throughout high school
Kathryn would bring up me going on a mission, leaving her all alone in boring
Raymond, and I would always awkwardly laugh it off.
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| Kathryn and me. Grade eleven. Livin' the dream. |
Up until I turned twenty going
on a mission wasn't something that consumed my mind. It still seemed such a
long way off. The one constant throughout my teen years was that ultimately I
wanted to follow the Lord’s plan for my life.
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| Just graduated high school. Still just a pale little baby. |
