Ockey Family Adventures: Mark's Mission Call

We are so excited for Mark!

Mission Calls are crazy these days. First, all the paperwork is electronic. You get it all filled out and the Stake President submits it no more than 150 days from your earliest departure date. Then the papers sit at Church headquarters for a week or two. Finally, the prospective missionary receives an email with the call. There are a hundred rumors that people are "For Sure!" about like: calls come on a Tuesday, calls come before noon, if you're portal has been assigned a missionary email you can expect your call that Tuesday, etc. All of these rumors have been swirling as we've seen Mark's friends called to Taiwan, then Argentina, then Portugal, then Hungary, and then Denmark. Mark has been on pins and needles wondering where and when and how to announce his call to friends and family.

We weren't sure what to expect, because Mark's papers were submitted by the Stake President too early. How long would they sit at Church Headquarters? Would this affect the timing at all? He'd put July 5, as his earliest departure, so how long would we have to wait?

On Saturday, February 8, just 3 days after the papers were supposed to be submitted, Mark was assigned a missionary email. Would the call come Tuesday morning? Or would it defy precedent like his friend's had and come on Monday? We were not getting a lot of sleep over the weekend!

The following Monday, we waited all day for an email, knowing that a call was unlikely. After Family Home Evening ended at 7:30, Mark left with a friend to deliver a Sweethearts' poster. Before he even got out of the neighborhood, Mom got a text in all-caps, "I JUST GOT MY CALL!" Within seconds he was back in the house, with sweat on his forehead.

We asked Mark what he wanted to do. He wanted all five of us together. He wanted Dad to pray. Then he wanted to read it all aloud. The prayer was mostly gratitude, but also a plea that we would all put our trust in the Lord and know that this call was just right for Mark. Then Mark started reading. There had been a lot anxiety about foreign missions, which Mark was really hoping for, so when he read "Rosario Argentina," we just about collapsed! He's taken three years of Spanish, so we hope that he will pick up the speed and cadence quickly. After another quick prayer, Mark was gone to finish the poster. He didn't even read far enough to know that he'll be at the MTC in Mexico City!

It was such a whirlwind of emotions, and now we know that Mark starts home MTC on July 28, and leaves for Mexico City on August 5. We are one step closer to having a missionary!

Of course, there was an announcement party as well. Unfortunately, between the Lehi basketball game Tuesday night, Seth's basketball practice, Dax and Mark's tournament games, and church activity night, we had to wait all the way until Wednesday at 9:30pm to gather together. And Mark wanted no one at all to know outside the 5 of us where he was headed. We did a pretty good job of keeping the secret, while sharing the guessing app and saying we were unauthorized to pass on information before Thursday morning. This extended to everyone, and even Grandma and Grandpa had to wait.

On Wednesday night, Mark came home from his tournament game (they scored 88 points and beat a far superior team) and changed into his suit. By 9:30, our house was filled with people, mostly teenagers, and excited chatter. Dad said a few words, mostly about how great the people in the room were and how much we love Mark's friends. We even had a few far-away family members on a video call for the announcement. When Mark got to the part about Argentina, there was a massive cheer that raised the roof right off our little house. Then there were hugs and photos and lots of Mom's cookies. The kids hung around for a few hours, so we got to bed pretty late, but it was a great night celebrating Mark's acceptance of his call.