The Call Came!!!

In March Jake finished up his mission paperwork, visited the doctor and dentist, and turned in his paperwork to the Bishop.

Jake leaving to turn in his paperwork to the Bishop

He also got his hair cut for his first missionary photo that he had to turn in with his paperwork...

                                Before the haircut.....                                          After the haircut!

Then we waited.....

The mission call came in the mail April 20, 2011 on a Wednesday.  Jordan got home first and wanted to see but I told him to leave it in the mailbox so Jake could get it himself. :)

Jake came home from work and his friend Josh got here too... and then Jake got his call letter and brought it down to his Grandma and Grandpa's house to open it with all of us there. :)

Grandpa, Grandma, Josh, Kim Marshall, Jordan, Rachel, and mom were all there with Jake.  He also had his friends McKenna and Sam Hahn on cell phones listening in to his call.  Josh set up his camera to video the opening of the call but for some reason it never recorded it.  We have photos of it though.  Jake opened the letter and read it line by line... and he is called as a missionary to ZIMBABWE - HARARE, English speaking!

Jake reports to the South Africa MTC on September 1, 2011.  We received his travel packet a week later, and his plane leaves on August 30th.  He travels to Texas, and then he has a 10 hour layover in London before he flies to South Africa.  He will have the chance to attend the Johannesburg Temple while he's there. :)  

Jake has his passport back and we finished all of the Zimbabwe visa paperwork. It's in the SLC church office and we are waiting to hear if we need to do anything more.  He has had a couple of ward members give him some things for his mission which I thought was incredibly kind of them.

Jake's passport photo

Jake went to the Bountiful temple on Saturday May 14th and received his endowments. It was amazing!  I loved every minute of it. He is now preparing as much as he can to leave by attending the temple at least once a week before he leaves, studying his scriptures, attending institute classes as WSU and purchasing things that he needs before he leaves. He's also spending time with family and friends before he leaves, but time is going by too slowly according to him. He can't wait to be in the mission field. :)