Rob's Mission Call.

Picture of the Day for 5/8/2013. My nephew Rob received his mission call today! This has been 19 years in the making. Of course, you might say that about any young man serving an LDS mission since they typically go at the age of 19, but my perspective is a little bit different. Rob was born somewhat prematurely and landed in the NICU with a collapsed lung. Needless to say, everyone was concerned and I recall my mother, in typical worst-case scenario fashion, was completely convinced Rob was not going to survive. I, on the other hand, knew without a shadow of a doubt he would be fine since I had a vision (yes- an honest-to-goodness vision) of him on the day 19 years in the future when he would be giving his missionary farewell speech in church. Rob has grown up to look exactly like the young man I saw in my vision- handsome and tall with very dark hair. It's hard to believe this milestone in his life has finally arrived. 

My parents were noticeably absent from my vision so I always suspected they would not be around to see their grandson go on a mission. Sadly, that turned out to be the case, but I suspect they are cheering him on from the other side. 

This is the first full-time missionary we've had in the family since my father and brother-in-law served their missions 70 and 40 years ago respectively. Consequently, everything associated with this has been a novel experience. Being able to watch Rob open up his "mission call" letter in front of friends and family at tonight's hastily assembled party was so much fun. 

Here's the mission call packet- just waiting to be opened.



Here's Rob holding the soon-to-be opened mission call packet.
 

While we were waiting for everyone to arrive, Rob's mother Robynne wrote down everyone's guesses about where Rob would be going. Since Rob is named after his grandfather Robert Merrill, a lot of us were hoping he'd serve in Texas just like his grandfather did. 


Rob's friend Brandon won a "fabulous" prize for making the closest guess (Boise, ID).


All of Rob's siblings were in attendance, either in person, or in Rachel's case, by Skype. Here's Lisa with Rachel on the laptop.


Here is a picture and a video of Robbie opening up his letter. I love the smile he gets on his face when he reads that he's going to the Farmington, New Mexico mission. He is scheduled to report for his mission on August 14. 

The Farmington, New Mexico mission covers a large portion of the Four Corners area of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. 


Farmington, New Mexico was not on anyone's radar, but once we had some time to think about it, the reaction was "of course." It's the perfect mission for laid-back Rob. He will most likely be working with the Native Americans from the area which he will enjoy and his mission president is a former engineer. I'm sure he'll be a great mentor to Rob who is a future engineer. 

After the big reveal, everyone stayed to chat and eat dessert. Here's Rob hanging out with two of his buddies who are leaving soon to serve on their missions as well. 


What a great day! I am so unbelievably proud and excited.