PEOPLE.
Ok ok ok so the one thing everyone has been asking me is "OH MY GOSH how do you feel about the fact that the Church changed the ages of Sister missionaries from 21 to 19????"
I will give you my personal opinion.
I think it is great for the following reasons:
1. Less girls will be getting married at 19 and 20, which I believe to be a splendid improvement. No offense to all my friends and acquaintances who got married at these tender ages, but I am all in favor of girls waiting to have significant life experiences before settling down.
2. This will increase the number of sisters by like a bajillion percent!! I'm like 99.9% sure that in about a year over half of the young people serving missions will be girls. Almost guaranteed.
3. So many girls that would have otherwise have had to turn down the opportunity may now go. I happy so happy for them.
I am terrified for the following reasons:
1. I was almost still a poophead at 19 and I'm a little scared a lot more immature girls will be entering the field.
2. With #1 being said, I'm afraid that a lot more immature 19 year old girls and boys will be falling in love with each other on the mission. Lock your heart problems, perhaps?
3. It's just one more giant decision that they have to make at such a young age. Please please PLEASE do it prayerfully!!! I think all the girls considering missions need to remember that they do not have to do it now - you can still wait until you're 21 or 24 or 26! And the older you are, the more life experiences and maturity you have to bring to your mission experience. Ward members and investigators see that and many times prefer it.
With all of this excitement and confusion and just plain weirdness, I have decided to do something special. I would like to write this letter home as a letter to my 19-year-old self. And so.
Dear (future) Sister Young,
First of all, to ruin the surprise, you went on a mission!! Ha ha!! Yes indeed, your future self decided to follow those promptings you have probably barely received about serving a mission. Again, ruining the surprise, you have been sent to the freezing cold of Berlin, Germany, and you secretly are falling in love with it. Indeed, a language so harsh and a people so stubborn are managing to squeeze through the tiny crevices in the wall around your heart. As scary as it sounds, you will find peace with this incredibly daunting responsibility of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sister, to be completely honest, I don't remember what it was like to be 19. I think I tried to block those memories out, so I apologize in advance for any sort of suckiness you're about to experience. I'm sure it wasn't that bad, so you'll learn to get over it. I DO remember, however, that you have started a "Happy Thoughts" journal, recording all the wonderful things each day there are to enjoy about life. Please keep this habit up. Your 21-year-old self is insanely horrible at keeping any sort of journal, and it would be such a lovely talent to have on a mission.
You have a really long road in front of you, and the time will probably seem to just creep by. You will make so many stupid decisions, but in the beauty of God's plan they will lead you right to where you need to be. Just don't forget to repent and to turn to Christ. Learn to become more like Him. I'm not sure if that means anything to you right now, and I'm actually not sure if that means anything to me either, but just keep reading in the scriptures and praying and going to church and doing what you're supposed to and maybe we'll learn one of these days.
I would love to gush out all the feelings of my heart right this second and to impart all the wisdom that I possess, but I just want you to learn that for yourself. It's time to fall on your face a few more times and to have your heart broken a few more times and to know what it means to climb the mountain of self-hatred and pity a few more times. That is what is going to make you a good missionary, and probably a good everything else.
Also are you not just dying from the cheesiness of this letter yet?? Ok then I will tell you some funny things and good things about your missionary-self.
#1. I still laugh at poop jokes.
#2. I am famous in the mission for 3 things: being a feminist, reading auras, and taking awkward pictures. This is how the 214 other missionaries in this mission will remember me for the rest of their lives. I am very pleased.
#3. I spend my p-days teaching Elders to be feminists and have had the privilege of hearing my district tell me that they have been converted to the cause of defending women.
#4. I am still addicted to Nutella.
#5. I think I am the funniest person in the world and I need to work on my pride a little bit.
Ok. That is all.
I love you!
Love,
Sister Young
ps. Please don't flunk that French test coming up. It's actually going to become your major and you need to stop being so lazy.
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