With most mission calls, you have some sort of frame of reference because you know someone who has been there before, whether on a mission or on vacation. Right after Maren's mission call, for instance, she and her friends headed over to Sarah Reddish's house to watch her open her mission call, which had come the same day as Maren's.
Sarah was so excited to be called to the Columbus Ohio mission, which her older brother had served in. Their family knew exactly what to expect. They knew the type of people she'd meet, the weather she could expect, and what kinds of clothes she should buy. They knew what food she'd eat and exactly how long it would take for a package or letter to travel from Pocatello, Idaho to Columbus, Ohio.
We knew nothing about Maren's mission. I tried searching for the mission on the internet, but I only found out that the mission had been created in July 2015 and there were 281 church members in the entire country. People immediately started telling me all kinds of worrisome things about Kazakhstan, such as the fact that the country is 85% Muslim and has had terrorist attacks, and the day after Maren opened her call I started to feel just a little bit worried.
At church a well-intentioned friend told me they only call missionaries with brave moms to dangerous countries like Kazakhstan. Then the whole Sacrament Meeting was devoted to our ward's missionaries. As the parents spoke about their children's missions I wondered why my little daughter was being sent to the Middle East instead of a safe place like Kansas, Oregon, Canada, or Pennsylvania, like the other missionaries in our ward. I had a small epiphany as I sat there, though. As Brother Agado talked about Destiny's mission in Pennsylvania and about a dangerous situation she'd been in I realized that I would have been just as nervous if she'd been called to Chicago or New York. There are dangerous places and situations everywhere, and I had to rely on my faith that the Lord is in charge, not on the safety of a particular region. I can honestly say that those few hours from the time she opened her call to the next afternoon was the only time I have experienced worry for her. After that I just felt excited! I wanted to learn as much as I could about what she could expect, so I kept searching for information, and as I did the Lord poured out the tender mercies upon us.
Our first tender mercy came when friends in our stake, Jim and Colleen Hallinan, responded to my Facebook post about Maren's mission call, mentioning that their niece just got called to the same mission two days after Maren. We immediately contacted their niece, Ksyenya Peterson, and Ksyenya's mom, Jill Peterson, on Facebook and by texting. It was so comforting to know this young lady would be going to the MTC and Kazakhstan with Maren, and our families shared all of the information we found out with each other. Ksyenya was from Mountain Home, Idaho but was living in Pocatello and going to ISU. They bumped into each other a couple of days after opening their calls at the institute building when Maren was coming out of an interview and Ksyenya was heading into a religion class. Ksyenya recognized Maren from her Facebook picture, and they were able to visit for 20 minutes and get to know each other. A couple of days later Ksyena was having her wisdom teeth out while in Pocatello, so we went to drop off some pudding and wish her well. It was easy to see that they were going to be good friends, and that gave them both a lot of comfort.
While I was trying to find out information about the church in Kazakhstan I had the impression to text my friend, Rebekah Call, who has traveled all over. I asked her if she'd ever been to Kazakhstan or known anyone who'd been there. She responded that oddly enough her friend's daughter was currently serving a mission there! I was able to send a message to the friend, Mark Slight, who shared lots of information with me about the mission and how wonderful it is. We found out that his daughter, Cambry, and her companion are the only sisters currently serving in Kazakhstan, and there are four senior couples and six elders, so it's a very small mission.
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| Cambry is on the right. Not sure of the companion's name. |
I couldn't believe that with only four young women serving in the entire country of Kazakhstan we had been blessed to know about the other three less than a week after Maren opened her call. The Lord is very kind!
We also had a friend who works for the FBI talk to us about a trip to Kazakhstan that he took a few years ago to set up the IT equipment at our country's FBI office there. He told us about the beautiful countryside, the nice people, and safety of the country. Other friends began telling us of people they knew who had been there for embassy work and loved it, and as their reports trickled in my heart smiled larger and larger until I felt it might burst. I couldn't believe Maren was so fortunate as to be called to serve in such a wonderful country!
Maren is so excited to go, and my only concern now is that I can't go, too (although we're already thinking about how fun it would be to pick her up when her mission is over!). What an amazing opportunity the Lord has given her to teach the people of Kazakhstan about his love for them.
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