1 Peter 4:2

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.

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.

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. 

Just graduated high school. Still just a pale little baby.