Here it Goes

Yesterday was quite the adventure. My mission papers have been extremely easy and fast- for those who don't know, they're online now, and take all of maybe 2 hours to fill out. I had my bishop's interview last Tuesday, and my interview with the stake president this past Wednesday. Both went really well and made me really excited to be a sister. :) So- the last thing I needed to do was have my physical and dental examination. I figured both would be a piece of cake- I've been to the doctor four times in the past year for random things, so I was pretty sure that would be fine and have no surprises. Last time I went to the dentist, they loved me and when I went to schedule my next appointment, the dentist was like, "Well, whenever you're in town next and it's convenient. Your teeth are so good, I'm not worried about it." Assuming that these missionary checkups would be about the same, I planned on just coming home for one day and then going back to Provo. You may have already guessed, but I was wrong.

First was my doctor's appointment. Everything was pretty standard for a physical- weight, height, blood pressure, etc., except for this crappy TB test, where they put something in your skin and you come back two days later for them to see the results. I wasn't very happy because this meant I would either stay till Monday, have to come back another weekend, or get it done in Provo somehow. Minus staying in Idaho until Monday, everything else would delay my mission papers. And I really like telling people it only took me a week and a half, start to finish, to do my mission papers! So I decided to just go ahead and stay in Idaho for the weekend and thus not delay my papers. Maybe I need to learn patience, but whatever. The good news- I am healthy.:)

So on to the dentist. I should preface this with a little bit of my mouth history- I have had two oral surgeries, braces for three years, and regular dentist visits (until college, as mentioned above) my whole life. Basically, if something was wrong with my mouth, someone would know and it has been fixed. Another interesting fact- on the bottom half of my mouth, not only do I not have wisdom teeth, but am also missing those last molars. They just never came. So I lived my whole life thinking I had no wisdom teeth and would have those last molars implanted when I was 25. More than one dentist and orthodontist has told me this. UNTIL- yesterday. When I'm getting ready for my mission. They do the x-ray thing that goes all the way around your head (which I have had BEFORE!) and ta-da! Wisdom teeth! On the top. So I'm talking about it with the assistant about how I'll have to come back and how this is the first time in my life I even knew those two suckers existed, and at this point I was already resigned to the fact that these mission papers might take longer than I wanted. Then she said, "Well- this is a little crazy, but what if the doctor has time to pull them out today? I'm just going to check." Ten minutes later, I'm sitting on the other side of the office getting shots in my gums, which by the way, hurt like a mother. They decided to pull four teeth- the two wisdom, and the two top back molars since they weren't matching up with anything on the bottom. Twenty minutes and four teeth later, I look like a chipmunk and have a mouth full of gauze. It was very sweet. But, I walked out of there fine.

We then went home where I made a few phone calls rearranging my Friday night and weekend plans, and I lay down for a bit after taking some hydrocodone. That stuff is not friendly. Later, I felt fine, and went to the mall with my mom and sister Elise in search of a pea coat. On the drive there, I started feeling a little nauseated. We walked around the mall for a bit, and I felt ok, but decided to ask the lady at Gap for a bag just in case. She judged me so bad- she was like, "Most people stay home when they have their wisdom teeth out." Stupid girl- I bought a coat from you, so shut up. Minor tangent- the coat I got is adorable. It's a red pea coat and I love it. Anyway, we leave Gap and head to JC Penney on our way out to look at nylons. The day ends with me throwing up into a Gap bag in the hosiery section of JC Penney's. Those bags are excellent though- navy blue with a drawstring, no one even knew what was inside, and I threw it away on our way out, after picking out a nice pair of nylons, by the way. I don't even think anyone saw me, and I felt worlds better afterward. No more hydrocodone.

The exciting part- after the doctor checks my TB on Monday, I am done! The papers will be in, and it's just a week or two until I get my call. Crazy huh?



I know this is super long, but on a positive note, I've never had a more clear answer in my life than when I asked about serving a mission right now. It's been so neat. One of the biggest answers came from conference during Jeffrey R. Holland's talk. I bolded the part that hit me the hardest. :)

"As one of a thousand elements of my own testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon, I submit this as yet one more evidence of its truthfulness. In this their greatest—and last—hour of need, I ask you: would these men blaspheme before God by continuing to fix their lives, their honor, and their own search for eternal salvation on a book (and by implication a church and a ministry) they had fictitiously created out of whole cloth?

Never mind that their wives are about to be widows and their children fatherless. Never mind that their little band of followers will yet be “houseless, friendless and homeless” and that their children will leave footprints of blood across frozen rivers and an untamed prairie floor.9 Never mind that legions will die and other legions live declaring in the four quarters of this earth that they know the Book of Mormon and the Church which espouses it to be true. Disregard all of that, and tell me whether in this hour of death these two men would enter the presence of their Eternal Judge quoting from and finding solace in a book which, if not the very word of God, would brand them as imposters and charlatans until the end of time? They would not do that! They were willing to die rather than deny the divine origin and the eternal truthfulness of the Book of Mormon."

:) I should get my call within two weeks.