It's been interesting for me to see how the Lord has guided my life lately to better things than I would have imagined. This May I decided to go on a mission. I started working on my papers and thought I would have them completed sometime in June, but for some reason or another they were taking me a lot longer to complete than expected. Certain things kept coming up that kept pushing them back later and later.
Finally, by July 17th, I had my interview with my Bishop and only needed my interview with my Stake President. However, the day I had my final interview with Bishop, was the day I was leaving to visit my sister in Alaska for two weeks, which also meant I would need to wait two weeks to have my interview with my Stake President. Also, on July 17th was the first time I talked to a guy named Taylor.
I met Taylor through Facebook. His friend, Tyler, went to the same high school as me. We were Facebook friends and he randomly wrote me and said something like, "Hey, I know we don't talk at all, but I need to know if you have a boyfriend or not. I'll explain later." (Ha weird, random?) I wrote him back and said I didn't. He then responded by saying he had a really good friend, named Taylor, who seemed like my type and we should become friends. At this time I was thinking oh great, a set up. These things never work, but after talking to Tyler for a little bit, I decided to add Taylor as a friend on Facebook. July 17th is the when we started talking.
I left for Alaska, which meant I couldn't turn my papers in until I came back, which also meant I had time to talk and get to know Taylor. We texted for a couple of days before he called me. We talked for the first time for about an hour and a half and it wasn't even awkward. Then the next night I lost a bet with him and so I had to call him that night. We talked for almost four hours that night and poor guy was in Ohio (selling pest control for the summer) and I was in Alaska. That makes a four hour time difference between the two of us. He stayed up until 4:30 his time talking to me. It was sure sweet of him. And then we talked every night after that. Even while I was on my trip we just assumed we would talk to each other every night. I had so much fun talking to him. He was really easy to talk to and we had a lot in common. After a little while, we started talking about us hanging out when he got back from Ohio and he asked me what my school schedule was so we could plan a time to do something. Well, I didn't have a school schedule. I was going on a mission and wasn't signed up for fall semester, but I wasn't about to tell him that, yet. I was going to tell him eventually, of course, but I just didn't want to then. Everyday I talked to him I liked him more and more. I was planning on telling him once I got home from my trip, but not during. I didn't want to be sad while I was on vacation, so I just made sure to enjoy it :) So when he asked me what my school schedule was, I lied and made one up and continued talking to him for the rest of the week with my fake schedule.
Finally, the night I got home from my trip, July 28th, I told Taylor I was going on a mission. He was pretty surprised and just didn't really now how to respond that night. He made a joke about me being an awkward sister missionary and I made a joke about him writing me. It was a pretty quiet conversation, just because we were both doing a lot of thinking, but what he was saying was making it sound like he wasn't just going to disappear. He asked if there was a chance that if I had my call and things were going well then I would stay home. I told him no. In one of my interviews with my Bishop, when I was trying to decide if I wanted to go or not, he said there was no harm in working on my papers and if I decided to not go I could just stop my papers anytime and be fine, but once those papers were turned in and I had my call, then he believed my call was from the Lord and that I should go. And that's what I told Taylor I would do. After talking to Taylor, my parents, my siblings and praying and analyzing every situation possible, I decided to sign up for fall semester. My justification for it all was that it was taking me so long to turn in my papers that I wouldn't even leave until about November anyway and then I would just be sitting and waiting until then. I might as well sign up for fall semester and then leave on my mission right after that. That way I wouldn't be wasting any time. That was my justification, but the real reason was Taylor, but I wasn't going to tell people that, especially because I hadn't even met him yet. He was still in Ohio until August 27th.
Our very first date! |
Taylor proposed on December 7, 2012 and I graciously accepted :) We will be married March 16, 2013 in the Logan LDS temple and I couldn't be happier. I love to look back and see how the Lord has guided me through my life that has led me to where I am today and all my many blessings.