Lizzie Hunt

   

               On October 6, 2015 a few minutes after school had ended my older brother, Ammon, came into my dad’s classroom with a smile spread across his face. For weeks we had been waiting for his mission call to see where he would be for the next two years of his life. Right as I saw him walk in I knew he had finally got the papers to see where he was going. He told my dad and I that the papers were here and we both hugged him and told him how excited we were. It felt so weird right then thinking that my brother was going to be gone for the next two years even though I’ve  known about him leaving my whole life.

                  Ammon and I walked down the main hallway and saw some of Ammon’s old friends and teachers so we stopped to talk to the about his mission call. They were all shocked about how he was waiting so long to open it knowing that it was sitting right in our living room. After everybody was done giving him hugs, telling him congratulations, and wishing him luck wherever he goes Ammon went to make some phone calls while I talked to my dad. We could not wait to find out where he was going, but we still had a while until he would open it up.

                  We had stayed after school to help our dad until it was time for the volleyball game at 5:30. We went in and some of my cousins were there to watch the game as well and once they saw Ammon they ran up to congratulate him and show there excitement. We had so much fun talking about it and about how excited everyone was. We were only able to stay to watch the first game because we had a youth activity. By the time we left it was about 6:45, but it felt like multiple hours had already gone by with having to wait so long to read the letter.

                  When we got to the activity we were really late but there weren’t as many people as usual so they hadn’t started yet. When we walked in they started explaining a game to the whole group which was a different version of the newlywed game. We were all having so much fun which made the time pass faster than at the volleyball game. We switched partners over and over so we could try to guess something about everyone. We were all laughing and having a wonderful time. We stopped the game around 8:20 which gave us time to talk to people and also enough time to get back to the volleyball game to get our cousin.

                  When we got there varsity’s game had ended so Ammon told everyone about his papers. They all freaked out and were super excited. We didn’t get to talk for long because we had to be back to the house to open his letter. We got home and my mom was so nervous about everything and really stressed out. One of my mom’s really good friends was also coming over with the whole family. She got there early and had brought a dry erase map to write everyone’s guesses of where he was going. Everyone was able to guess one in the country and one outside the country. We had been making phone calls all night of whose phone was being used to call who and where they were guessing.

                  Once all of our nearby relatives were at our house which is about 25 people we got everyone seats. Every electronic device that was in our house at that time was being used to call, FaceTime, or skype relatives all around the world. Being able to see most of our family was so much fun, but then we all had to settle down as Ammon got ready to open the letter.

                  He stood at the front on our living room with the letter in his hands. He opened the letter and read, “Dear Elder Hunt, 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 Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months. You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, December 16, 2015. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language.” Everyone was so excited, and the room erupted. I could not believe Ammon was going to be spending the next two years of his life in Argentina. My mom and some other people were crying because they were so happy while I and almost everyone else had a huge smile on their faces and were filled with excitement and love for Ammon. That night we didn’t finish calling everyone until about 11:30 to 12:00. After everyone had left and was off the phones Ammon read the full packet with just our family. It was so amazing.

                  I still cannot believe my older brother will be in Argentina for the next two years. Everything has gone by so fast. I am so excited for him, and this has also made me more excited when I’m nineteen and get to experience this same type of excitement.