My first semester at BYU-Idaho, Elder Brague came around to
one of my band rehearsals. He explained his calling and how the Nauvoo brass
band was made up of elder and sister missionaries who serve there from May to
August. He then directed us to look at a
website with audition information. At the time I thought that spending a summer
in Nauvoo as a missionary would be a fantastic experience, so I followed the
link he gave us. As I looked more and
more into it, I found that I really wanted to serve there that summer, but
quickly realized that a summer in Nauvoo would always conflict with my
fall/spring track at BYUI. So much to my disappointment I closed my browser and
went back to my practice room.
Flash forward to this last fall semester. As my religion
elective I chose to take FDREL303, Teachings of the Living Prophets. (Excellent
class by the way. What better homework assignment is there than reading
conference talks? :)
As General Conference approached we had more and more
discussions as to how to effectively listen to and take notes. Something my
professor, Brother Hammond, encouraged us to do was to take notes which were
more than just what the speaker said.
"We learn through the spirit," he said, "So
why not write down the promptings and feelings that have when first
listening?" "We can always go back and re-read what was spoken, but
will we always remember the things we felt when we first listened?"
I was very lucky and my mom was able to get me three tickets
to the Saturday morning session and so me and two of my best friends took a
road trip down to Utah. Growing up in New York, I'd never been to conference,
so I was really excited to finally get to go.
As we sat there that morning and President Monson came out,
everyone stood. I have never heard 20,000 people be so quite in my life. :) And
as we stood I knew in my heart that this man was The Prophet of God.
After the opening song and prayer he then stood and gave his
historic address. I looked to either side of me, to my two friends and noticed
that we each had started crying. The spirit was so strong. Looking back all I
can really make out from my notes is,"I'm going on a mission!,"
"When is the soonest I can be prepared to go?"
I met with my Bishop in Rexburg, but due to complications
with my papers I decided to put off finishing them till I got home at
Christmas. Around Halloween Elder Brague made his rounds again at BYUI. This
time I knew that I shouldn't be afraid to take off time to go to Nauvoo.
With the help of a very dear friend, a Nauvoo alumni, I
submitted my initial audition tape. I was overjoyed to get the email with my
callback, but knew that I would be home off-track in New York for the live
auditions. I scrambled to pack my apartment, finish projects, take tests, and
make a final audition tape at school. We finished recording minutes before the
piccolo and recorder were due for the semester and my friend said he'd send the
DVD in for me. (Honestly getting everything done that day was a miracle.)
Flash forward to Christmas Day where I got a text from my
friend saying, "Merry Christmas! btw I can't find your recordings...where
did you save them?" After scouring through his hard-drive we realized that
I hadn't properly saved them on his computer and they were now lost. So now I'm
two weeks closer to my audition deadline and don't have access to the
facilities and equipment I did for my previous recording.
With a prayer in my heart, I borrowed my friend's piccolo
and shot my second tape with my dad and his iPad. I knew that if it really were
God's will for me to go to Nauvoo, He would make my best effort good enough.
A few days later, shopping in Target with my mom, Elder
Brague called to invite me to Nauvoo. The people there must have been a little
confused as I eagerly paced through the isles smiling and bouncing around like
a kid at Christmas.
Since I'm home working most people are already confused as
to what I'm doing with my life, and I've found that my mission call itself is
an opportunity to strike up a conversation about the church.
I'm so grateful for all that my Heavenly Father has blessed
me with. I'm so excited to be able to share my testimony every day this summer
and help to bring joy to others as they learn more about the restored gospel of
Jesus Christ, and in turn, come to better know their Savior.
‘Til then!
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