Thursday, July 2, 2009

The Call

As you know there are two days I have been anxiously awaiting and planning for.

Thing 1's mission call and the STP.

The first happened today... Thing One received his mission call.We had to wait a whole 3 minutes for Dad to get home from a bike ride.Uh, yes I am going to give you all the details. So if you only want to know where he's going then just go ahead and scroll to the bottom of the page and miss out on all the fun.

First he opened the envelope:
Upside down...

I was sitting across the room from him and I could see the actual letter behind everything in his hand but he was just looking at the back. He said, "Hmm, a U.S. Passport."

Foreign. I guess it was good to have it sink in a little at a time. He would be leaving the country.

With all the power I could muster I stayed on my side of the room and didn't run over there, yank the envelope out of his hand and read it myself. I very calmly informed him that he was holding it upside down.

"I know," he said slowly. Then he turned it around and said, "BOISE, IDAHO!"

I knew he would do that.

No. He's not going to Idaho.

He scanned it himself first and then as patiently and unhurried as he could he read every word to us:

You have been called to serve in the Uruguay, Montevideo mission.

That's right, Uruguay. South America. South of the Equator. Spanish speaking. Uruguay.

He hasn't stopped smiling.

And neither have I.




We even bought him a Congratulations Ice Cream Cake to Celebrate.It's My Little Pony.

13 comments:

Jaci said...

Ok, I'm all the way here in Illinois and crying my silly eye balls out. I'm sooo glad you got it on video because I have been just imagining all day what it must be like to have your son get his mission call. Priceless! I'm sooo excited for Barry...for you all! David is soooo excited that he will be able to be going to the Argentina MTC too. Congratulations, Barry!

The Mothership said...

congrats! we are so excited for you all! thanks for sharing the video.

Anonymous said...

oh my gosh!! thats so exciting! its so hard to belive that barry's already going on a mission. i hope he comes to fifth ward on sunday so our class can celebrate! tell him i said congrats and im proud of him

Anonymous said...

Make sure you show him Fatcyclist's account of his experience being a missionary. I believe it involved crashing bicycles while abroad.

Joy For Your Journey said...

How exciting!!! That should be a great mission,. I served in Ecuador and loved it. And by the way, when I opened my call my dad did fly across the room and grab it out of my hands to read it! Also about Boise . . . we have a boy in our stake who always joked about going there and insisted on telling everyone that is where he was going no matter what his mission call said, but obviously they have a sense of humor in heaven, because that is actually where he was sent. We all got a good laugh out of that. Congrats to your son!!! Thanks for sharing the joy.

mikeonhisbike said...

Thanks for waiting for me to get home from my ride before opening the letter. Really, I wasn't crying it was the sweat in my eyes from the ride. I'm super excited about his call. He should have a great time.

Kim said...

Yay! So fun and exciting! I love the "Boise, Idaho"- if only he'd said, "I need a map!" And what an awesome my little pony cake. Any excuse to have cake, no matter what it looks like, is good for me.

Linda said...

What a great adventure for him! It might be a bit more exciting than Boise.

Dawn said...

Way to go!! I commented yesterday and thought it went through. I was so excited to see the video. I smiled all the way through and so did LVP! I can't believe that little blonde, brown-eyed boy can now be called "Elder!" Way to go Barry! So proud!

Tipper said...

Wow what an exciting time in his life!! I'll say a prayer for him and his team-and for you guys who will miss him.

Justica said...

My family just moved out of uruguay! There is alot of different languages there. The flowers are really pretty there. I hope you like spicy food! :D I am so freakin excited for you!!

Tanielle said...

That is soooo awesome! It scares me that these kids grow so fast! Bug always tells me, "ya know when Ashie is my age I will be home from my mission!" Congrats!!

Jenny86753oh9 said...

Oh, I missed this post! How did I miss this post?! Uruguay! I have some wonderful Missionary Kid friends of mine that grew up there. The stories they have are so cool! I'm so excited for him...and you!