The call.

Well, after that the whole thing seems like such a blur! I started my papers in November and had them in before the end of December. Crazy stuff.  But the good stuff was just about to begin! For the next 2 weeks I played the waiting game as my call was to be finalized by the 1st Presidency and then mailed to me. That was seriously the longest 2 weeks of my life. Focusing on school work? Ha. Ya right. (Sorry mom :) ) But then after what seemed like forever it was Wednesday!!!! (which is the day mission calls usually come here in Provo) The night before I was up all night because I was so excited and kept thinking of all the places I could get called to.  That week I had had two dreams of going places: 1 the Philippines and 2. Brazil.  So I decided my guess for myself was going to be Brazil.

All day Wednesday I was in classes and focusing on my school work was just out of the question. I got to my last class of the day at 2 (which was mission prep) and it was just wonderful. I left feeling ready to face this new challenge and take this next step in my life. Walking home was an adventure in itself as I had to keep stopping myself from running the whole way and nearly tripped and fell to my death on the stairs haha. Typical Jessica... Anyways I ran upstairs, grabbed the mail key and ran out to the mailbox. I inserted the key, turned it and..... there it was!! Just sitting there like it was no big deal! I took it out and looked down at it knowing that the next 18 months of my life lay in my hands. I ran upstairs and had a mini freakout with my amazing roommate Mallory who tried her best to keep me calm haha.

That night all my friends and family that were in the area came over to watch me open it. It was so nice to look around and see so many people who I love here to support me in this big decision I have made to dedicate 18 months of my life to serving the Lord. Once I got my family who live in Kentucky on skype it was time to open it! As I took out the paper I can honestly say I have never felt so excited/ nervous in my entire life. I flipped it over and began to read the words:


Dear Sister Lowe,

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Philippines Olongapo Mission. You should report to the Provo MTC on Wednesday, May 8th 2013. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Tagalog language.

After reading those words I just started crying and laughing all at the same time... I probably looked insane haha. I just felt this amazing feeling of peace, comfort, and pure joy that is indescribable  I know that this is exactly where God needs me to serve. I have never felt so at peace or so close to God and my savior Jesus Christ than at that moment. I am just so SO happy and can NOT WAIT to start serving him and all the amazing people of the Philippines. I don't even know them yet, but I just love them already :) I can not even express how happy and amazing I feel knowing I have the opportunity to give up my wants and just serve my heavenly father and his children in the Philippines for the next 18 months... it is just incredible. It's just crazy to think in 5 months i'll be in the Philippines! It's so funny because my best friend is actually over there right now serving his mission in Cebu (which is on another Philippine island) and I used to laugh and make fun of him for having to eat mongoose and all the crazy things he's has to deal with over there and what do you know? That's exactly what I'm going to have to do haha. But I am just so so SO excited and cannot wait to serve! Bring on the crazy humidity, rain, hot sun, mongoose, no AC and imposible language I don't know yet! Challenge accepted :) Olongapo Philippines here I come!

The Journey

Hey Everyone!

Ok. So I am starting this blog so that all of you can follow me on my journey as a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Olongapo Philippines! It isn't going to be easy, but I know that this will be one of the biggest blessings in my life and am so SO excited to start serving the Lord and his children in the Philippines. I have such a strong testimony of this gospel and I am so grateful for my savior Jesus Christ and everything he has done for me. I hope that through reading about all my adventures and experiences you will feel uplifted and inspired to live a happier life. Because isn't that the goal? We are all here on this earth to have experiences and try to be better. To live, to love and to grow so that we can reach our full potential as well as form bonds and relationships with those we love that will last the eternities.

So how did this whole mission business even begin you ask? Good question. Because it sure wasn't in my life plan haha. So I came back to BYU over the summer ready to conquer the world- new apartment  new roommates, new classes and about declare my major- but I kept feeling like something was missing and I was really having a hard time figuring out what I was supposed to do with my life. Then during the October General Conference, President Thomas S Monson made his groundbreaking announcement that the missionary ages had been lowered and girls could leave on missions at 19 instead of 21. The words hit me full forced like a ton of bricks and I was speechless. That lasted for a good 2 seconds and then my friends and I started jumping up and down like crazy people and had a full fledged freakout in the living room. Never before had any news announcement made in conference affected me so directly.  Here I was, a 19 year old girl, listening as they tell the whole world that 19 year old girls can start serving... like right NOW!

Obviously I started thinking about the possibility of going on a mission and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go! But I wasn't sure if it was really what I was supposed to do so I kept thinking about it and really prayed hard about for the next few weeks.  One day while in my New Testament class my teacher really emphasized a scripture in Matthew 7:7-8 which says:


7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

I really kept that in mind all day and later that night when I went to the temple. I sat there waiting to do confirmations and just prayed and prayed to my heavenly father asking to be able to receive an answer just like that scripture said I could.  I had such a desire to go, but I just wanted to be sure and receive an answer for myself because let's be real- giving up 18 months of your life to go serve the Lord anywhere in the world away from all your friends and family is kind of a big deal.  I started flipping through my scriptures and stopped in the beginning of the Doctrine and Covenants and started reading.  Suddenly, a scripture caught my eye and as I read the words my eyes started welling up with tears and my heart seemed to be pounding of my chest. The scripture was D&C 4:3 which reads:

 3 Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work.

Never had any scripture i've ever read touched me so strongly or rang so clear to me before.  I felt such a strong confirmation that going on a mission to serve the Lord as a full time missionary was EXACTLY what I was supposed to be doing at this time with my life.

I then continued reading the rest of the chapter and couldn't believe what I was seeing as I read the last verse of the chapter:

 7 Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

The Lord truly does listen to and hear our prayers. We are his children and he loves and cares about us so much. He wants to help us and all we have to do to receive his help is ask.  From that moment on I knew I was going to serve a mission and I couldn't be happier :)