Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Called to Serve

It was an incredibly big day in our household today. The mailman (actually a substitute mail woman today...) delivered the long-awaited large white envelope addressed to Elder Nathan Eldon Evans from the Office of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Inside was Nate's call to missionary service. For those of you not familiar with our church, young men are asked to serve two-year missions when they are 19 years old. We believe it is an important service that they perform...giving up two years of their lives to devote themselves to serving the people in different areas throughout the world.

Family members and friends gathered at our house tonight for the big event -- the opening of the call. So, without any further ado.... Nate read this:

Dear Elder Evans:
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 Canada Edmonton Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months.

You should report to the Missionary Training Center at Provo, Utah on Wednesday, 17 September, 2008.

And then, further down are these inspiring words:

"The Lord will reward you for the goodness of your life. Greater blessings and more happiness than you have yet experienced await you as you humbly and prayerfully serve the Lord in this labor of love among His children."

That pretty much sums it up....a labor of LOVE. I am so proud of Nate for the way he has lived his life and that he is worthy to serve as a missionary. I look forward to the wonderful experiences he will have as he serves. I know it will be so hard to say goodbye on September 17, but it will be oh, so worth it as he grows and serves and learns to love the people in Canada.

Here are a few shots of the big event:

One of my favorite shots from tonight. Nate and two of his friends. These three boys were roommates at BYU and now have all received their mission calls. Mark (left) is going to Anaheim, California and Devin (right is going to to Birmingham, Alabama.

17 comments:

Tracy said...

That is amazing! What a great call! Congratulations on raising such a good son! I bet you are so proud!

Travis said...

Canada Eh? He will do a great job and lots of fun!!!

Mindy Evans said...

We are so excited! We looked on the map and it is exactly north of you guys!
So Nate will be freezing and Grandma and Grandpa will be sweating! :)

Congrats Nate!

Mindy and family

Chell said...

YIPPIE!!! How exciting. Oh tell him congrats. What a wonderful blessing for your family to have a missionary out serving.

Jason said...

What a great call, I wish him the best of luck. I really like that last shot.

amazing grace said...

wow! what an amazing day for him!

pat said...

Margaret--congratulations! I actually got a little teary reading about his call and seeing the photos--brought back some sweet memories. Is he going to language training, eh? ;-)

lcp said...

What a very special day for both of you! How wonderful to get to document all of it with the photos and journaling. Congrats!!!

Becky said...

Congratulations! I can feel your pride. :-)

Amy said...

Congratulations! Edmonton is a very interesting area. Good for him, and how proud you must be. I love the pics of him...a handsome young man!

selena said...

Congratulations! I know you are so proud of him :) I wish him all the best!!

Debbi said...

Wow - thank you for sharing this event! Great pictures. It will be exciting to hear about his mission over the next two years!

Mom2Drew said...

Canada eh?

I don't know much about these particular missions, but know the dedication and importance they are to the men and families. I had a good friend in HS who was LDS and received a mission to somewhere in Europe. Is there any part of your mommy heart that is glad he's staying relatively close to home, or does that not even cross your mind? Forgive my ignorance.

Amy said...

Congrats to your son! I think Canada would be a great place to live for a couple of years! I don't know about the missions at all, do they take off college for two years or do they do it where they have the mission?

Shanna Jones said...

Oh cool. He'll be near where I'm from. I grew up in Alberta. Congrats!

Angela2932 said...

What an exciting day and how proud you must be! You've raised a good son. It really will be interesting to hear how things go for him over the next 2 years!

April said...

congratulations..that's so exciting!! those are great pictures that you got!! very fun!!