Called

On Friday my family drove to Utah county with a big white envelope from the Church headquarters.

I was not nervous about the next 18 months of my life until I saw it.

I worried about a lot of things once it was in my hands like:

-what if I couldn't do this?

-what if I couldn't adapt to the culture/food/people?

-what if's

I even joked about driving to the church office in Salt Lake handing them my envelope and saying "Changed my mind."

But surrounded by the most important people to me (some via cell phone) I opened my mission call and read the following words:

"Dear Sister Perkins: You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint. You are assigned to labor in the Canada Montreal Mission. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language."

With those few words I became all sorts of emotion.

Mostly shock.

Then came joy.

Then absolute gratitude.

I can't possibly explain how but I already feel a love for those people in the Montreal.

I can think of no other explanation than that of the love of Christ which stems from His Gospel.

I am so grateful for the testimony I have of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that the atonement is real. I know that Joseph Smith saw the Father and the Son and that he restored the true and living gospel. I know that man will know no great joy than coming unto the Savior.

And that is what I plan to share with the people of Montreal.

xo

FHE Mama

I have a pretty good track record of not attending FHE since I've moved away from home.

If you are unfamiliar with FHE, it stands for Family Home Evening.

FHE is held on Monday nights and it's a time for families in our church to spend together.

College wards, like the one I attend, have little FHE groups and I was lucky enough to land a calling as an FHE mom.

I know this is karma paying me back for the past 3 years of avoidant behavior.

Tonight was my first go at being an FHE mom.

Lucky for me I was paired with another FHE mom and we decided to play games and she volunteered to bring a watermelon.

* it should be noted that I had a dream last night that I learned how to carve watermelons like you would carve a pumpkin at Halloween. So you can imagine my excitement?

We did the usual

.Prayer, spiritual thought, etc.

Once I had sufficiently dominated everyone in Mad Gab we decided to slice the watermelon open.

I'm not going to lie I was pretty excited.

I. Love. Watermelon.

My dear roommates began slicing the beast open and like opening flood gates the watermelon spewed water all over our counter top.

Then we split the beast open and the insides reminded me of the turkey on Christmas Vacation. See image below.

It was sad indeed.

I had to send all of my little FHE children home without watermelon.

Luckily, one of the children made this wonderful watermelon carving.

See image below.

Behold! The waterbeast!

xo

P.s. I am still craving watermelon.

Decision.

I have been wrestling with two really big "somethings" for a few weeks now.

Both somethings could make me very happy.

I think that's the hardest part.

If I at least knew which "best" was a little less best I wouldn't be in this pickle.

Maybe I should flip a coin? kidding!

Happy Monday!

xo

P.s. I realize the squirrel has nothing to do with this post, but isn't it funny? He reminds me of someone I know....but who?

Because who is really "over" the royal wedding?

Precious.

xo

On my iPod lately: April Smith

I hope that brought a smile to your face.

x0

Pick-up lines

A couple of days ago I was waiting for my finance class to start.

Generally, I use this time to check my email on my phone (I entered the 21st century about three months ago).

I was sitting there browsing through junk email (urban, anthro, gap, etc.) and out of nowhere this boy gets down on his hands and knees and sticks his head under the chair next to mine.

"Oh sorry. I'm looking for my phone."

"Um. Okay."

At this point he looks under a couple of other chairs next to mine.

"Do you think you could call it?"

"Sure. What's your number?"

"XXX-XXX-XXXX"

It rang, and rang, and rang.

No luck.

"Well, thanks anyway."

"Um yeah."

As he walked away I realized that was some really good acting.

xo

The Great Migration: A Story of Fish and Irony

I have a fish.

His name is Jerry Sloan.

Why?

Because Jerry Sloan is the coolest and he will forever be planted in my childhood memories.

Jerry Sloan the fish was a gift from J. Actually, he was payback/gift.

Little did J know Jerry and I are destined to be together.

Jerry Sloan lived on my desk at work for about two months.

But then I started to feel like a very neglectful fish mom, so I decided to bring him home.

Let's be honest who wants to live in a cubicle?

This took lots of planning in my little brain.

I tried to think of a way to get Jerry in the car.

Everyone made ridiculous suggestions like put him in a baggie, or tape a paper plate to the bowl.

Too bad I didn't listen.

The best idea I came up with was to put his bowl in a bigger bowl.

This is where you should start worrying.

Bad. Idea.

I put Jerry's bowl in a much bigger bowl and set him on the floor of my car.

Voila! I thought.

I put my car into drive and that's when I should've put it back into park.

Jerry's bowl started to orbit around inside the bigger bowl and I'm pretty sure I gave him shaken fishy syndrome.

No problem. I thought. He will be grand.

Wrong-o.

The second I pulled out of the parking lot, a force much bigger than Jerry Sloan the fish, tipped his little fish home over.

Luckily, I was able to pull into a parking lot next door to my office.

I ran around my car to the passenger door and screamed "JERRY SLOAN I'LL SAVE YOU!"

Much to my surprise he was only a little shaken up and actually still in his bowl with about half of his water.

Also, I was lucky no one was standing outside watching me run around my car screaming about recently resigned NBA coaches.

My next thought was how to get the fishy home and unmarred.

I sat there staring at a very flustered Jerry Sloan and then WA-BAM! I knew exactly how to save my fish baby.

When I moved to college many moons ago my mother was INSISTENT that I bring my 72 hour kit and keep it in the trunk of my car.

It is essential to note that:

a) it takes up half of my trunk space.

b) I get mocked for it on a consistent basis.

c) I never thought I would need it.

Within the contents of my 72 hour kit is a small cooler. Perfect for fish transferring.

I popped open my trunk and there it sat: the fish mobile.

But when I opened it there was another unexpected twist in this plot.

Pistachios!

There was a half pound bag of pistachios in my cooler.

This was remarkable because I am allergic to pistachios.

But at this point I didn't care about pistachios so I threw the bag aside and placed Jerry in the cooler.

However, his little fish home was still a little wobbly.

If only I had something to cushion him. I thought.

WA-BAM!

The bag of pistachios.

And that is how Jerry Sloan the fish came home in a cooler padded by a half pound of pistachios, the very nut that once tried to ruin my life.

xo

P.s. Ace comes home in 3 days!

P.p.s. Thanks to Chantel who made me feel missed:)