Why a mission? Why right now?

Someone might ask, why do you want to serve a mission? Why right now? I have wanted to serve a mission for years! My desire to serve a mission definitely heightened when a lot of my guy friends left to serve missions at around 19 years of age! Young men used to be eligible to serve missions at 19 years old, and young women at 21. I was 19 at the time, and I still had to wait two years to go on a mission!! I was ok with it though. I had looked forward to serving a mission, that the wait was all right. I remember writing one of my friends who is serving in Brazil, "ONLY 18 MORE MONTHS TILL I CAN START MY PAPERS!!" Yes, I used capital letters! I seriously thought about when I could start the application process to become a missionary, even though it was years away! Going into my sophomore year of college I had my life planned out for the next couple of years (or so I thought). The only thing that was really standing in my way was the looming thought that I could get married before I was old enough to serve a mission. I mean two years, come on. That is definitely a possibility, especially at BYU living in off-campus housing! After being told by a friend that I should find out if a mission is what God had in store for me, I prayed. I prayed to know if I should serve a mission at 21 years old. Well starting October 6th, 2012 (only 2 months into my sophomore year at BYU) I didn't really have to think about marriage anymore...
I eagerly and excitedly traveled to Salt Lake City on the morning of October 6th, 2012. My wonderful friend Kenzi asked me the night before if I wanted to go to Salt Lake City with her to watch General Conference (a meeting my church has twice a year held in Salt Lake City). I jumped on her offer! Of course I would want to watch it live (although it is broadcast throughout the world)! To hear the prophet of God, to be in the same room as him, yeah I wanted to go! As we entered the Conference Center (where General Conference is held), I was so excited! There was a different feel going into this session than any other time I had listened/watched General Conference. I was genuinely excited to sit in a room for a couple of hours and listen to people speak. Anyway, we sat down, and President Thomas S. Monson opened the meeting. He opened this worldwide meeting with an announcement that would affect the rest of my life. President Monson announced that young men could now serve missions at age 18 instead of 19 (huge gasp in the Conference Center). He then said that young women could begin missionary service at age 19 instead of 21 (commence tears of joy running down my face)! I GET TO SERVE A MISSION! The announcement President Monson made, lowering the age that young women could now serve was an answer to my prayers! I know that this was revelation from God for me, and so many other people around the world who would now answer the call to serve at an earlier age. I no longer had to worry about marriage getting in the way of me serving a mission; but still needed to know if this is what my Heavenly Father wanted me to do, go out and serve Him. I will tell that story soon...

After the meeting, and after I found out I was now old enough to serve a mission, I ran into Natalie Savage, a friend and great example to me (who is a missionary on Temple Square)! She is the one on the right.