Road to a Mission ~ Part 2

From Sister Foley~

The Mission Call

Well, after President Hinkley (junior) called the missionary department and checked on our mission call, we were told it was in the mail. That was unusual because it was a Thursday and calls usually would arrive on Wednesday. Nevertheless we anxiously checked the mail Thursday and Friday and Monday and Tuesday and it finally came the following Wednesday, December 4th. We were so excited to learn we were going to Mexico City, and although we hadn't considered a Visitors Center mission, it sounded just right for us.

Along with the mission call came a booklet with a list of all we had to do to prepare and all we had to bring with us. A big one for me was Spanish tutoring which I began in January three times a week by telephone with Hermano Pierson from the MTC. It has been a very stressful but good experience and although I cannot say I speak Spanish well, my vocabulary and understanding have certainly grown.

Getting ready to leave has not only taken many, many hours, it has taken mucho dinero. I found my wardrobe was not really what I needed and had to purchase quite a few clothes. Larry needed a new suit, ties, raincoat, etc. Anyway it has been a huge, at times overwhelming experience. There are also the things you wouldn't think of such as sewing kits, first aid kits, sheets, towels, umbrellas, alarm clock and on and on. Also we had to have immunizations, not fun!! Larry had already had many of his due to church travel with his job, but I needed them all.

We set up a "Packing Central" in our spare room and wow has it ever been a project. Saturday Julia and Sadie will move in to begin their stay at the Foley Homestead. Our packing central will be transformed into Sadie's room so we must get finished this week. Boy is that a challenge. We have now had our mission postponed two weeks due to "scheduling problems" at the MTC so we will be all together for awhile. Oh well, I don't know why we wouldn't expect to be challenged with this as well.