When I look back at my older blog posts, certain ones bring back stronger emotions than others- List's letter opening on June 7th, 2014 was one of those. It was wonderful to see all of my close family get involved with such a special event for her. 360 days after that day (making it June 2nd 2015) we gathered together for another party in honor of my brother Acey for the exact same occasion.
As I have posted before, there have been so many events going on here lately for him. He has went to his senior prom, turned 18 years old, received his Eagle Scout award, graduated high school, went on his first cruise and sent in his mission papers. AKA more big events than should ever be allowed in a 7 week period. As we sailed through the Bahamas the letter was expected to arrive. Friday (when the envelope should be in) passed, then Saturday without any letter getting delivered, of course mail doesn't run on Sunday and still no letter by Monday! The worry began to increase- we had told family, friends and the Mutual program to meet with us on Tuesday evening to open it. A fine event that would be: important mission call letter opening without the letter. Great idea. I prayed fiercely that my parent's mail would run early on Tuesday in order to give me an idea if I needed to travel 2.5 hours upstate or not. I won't even mention the fact that the location contained in that envelope was enough to drive any curious person crazy.
Tuesday morning rolled around, Mama and I had concocted a plan. If the letter would arrive that day we would still hold the party, if not we would try to have it on Friday with hopes of it coming in the mail between then. Knowing the postman could come anytime between 2 and 4 o'clock, I messaged Mama to check the mail at 2:02. Her response 5 minutes later was a picture of the LARGE WHITE ENVELOPE containing important info on Acey's next 2 years. It was here! Finally! Praise be! And a hallelujah to boot!
Immediately I had to rush out the door with my train of ideas and box of decorations to get there in time. Speeding all the way to Folkston I met Mama and Grandma who rushed me back to Douglas (we decided to leave my car halfway since it can't be trusted for a big trek). By the time we got to the church there were several cars parked outside, just waiting for the big news. I barked out orders for others to assist in decorating, luckily sweet family and friends consented. In a very quick time frame we transformed the Relief Society room and a section of the gym; there was a mixture of a global and outdoorsy theme throughout. I thought that it was very cute and fitting to Acey's personality.
Using a huge world map I had put up, all of the guests were invited to add their guesses. The United States was filled with stars and name tags, only a few out of the country ones could be seen. I had secretly kept my thoughts of him being sent to the Ukraine to myself; I had recently heard many new elders were being sent to Kiev. I prayed for understanding and Acey's excitement, despite where he would go. So I stuck my Boston, Mass and Kiev, Ukraine stickers on.
The Bishop got the show started at 7pm. Graham had just arrived, luckily, and we were waiting on my Daddy. The thought was focused on the boy of the hour's willingness to go, particularly Listi's contribution to that. It was an emotional intro. Next up was Mama who shared her thoughts on Acey's decision and her pride in him. As she spoke old Jacob Mizell showed up and we were ready!
I asked everyone to please be quiet as he read the entirety of his letter. As he stood I could see he was a little nervous. He excitedly tipped his letter open. He began, "Dear Elder Acey Mizell, you are hereby called to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the New Zealand Hamilton mission." Mouths dropped, eyes bulged and hands clapped together! My grandparents bit their nails hoping for his safety. The rest was a blur for me, I was far too excited to decipher whatever else he said.
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| As he read the words: New Zealand! |
What! NZ: home of the hobbits! My dream destination! And my baby brother was able to go! And wait! I could pick him up! (Yes every thought did end in exclamations at this point.) It took a minute to sink in that he would be sent to the other side of the world to those island people. What an amazing adventure he would be blessed to go on. And to think he requested to stay in the United States :)
As he read I asked Mama when did he report, because as I jumped up and down I missed the announcement. The answer? October 8th at the New Zealand MTC speaking the English language, to his relief. (So much for Mama flying him out to Provo!) He read onward to parts which said he was recommended as one worthy to serve in this capacity, signed President Thomas S. Monson. He lowered his paper and the room exploded with applause! Without having the integrity to contain myself I ran up to Acey and asked him what he thought. He was still trying to gather those up when I showed him where it was located on the map. This large island in the Pacific near Fiji and Australia. I put my hands on his shoulders to let him see how magical I thought this would be for him. His eyes widened and he said, "Wait what! All the way over there?!"
And we all laughed wholeheartedly. Everyone came over to congratulate him, shake his hand or hug him. Without making this too much about me, Mama stopped and said, "I want to let everyone know that Lacey said on the ride over she wished he would go to New Zealand so she had an excuse to go!" How is that for good guesswork? I guess we will call it a little bit of sister's intuition.
No one from Douglas, Georgia had been called to that location prior to him, but furthermore, none had ever been sent to a location as far as that one either! Elder Mizell is already making an impact. This really caused me to think about how important Acey must be to the missionary work over there, what a joy.
The rest of the evening the crowd ate pizza, a missionary name-tag cake and ran around taking pictures. Everyone was still a little got-away with, so they inspected the map and globe, respectively, with interest. We documented with many video snippets and photographs.
It's hard to find a decent stopping point because there is so much that could be said. But I'll just leave with a quick testimony- I know Acey is doing the right thing. I know that missionary work is true and hard and fun. I know that New Zealand is going to be a wonderful place to spend 2 years of his life. I know that the people will love and take care of him (as Tucsonians have for Listi). I know that he is going to be blessed beyond measure for serving the Lord. And I know I love him lots ;)
I am so excited for this chapter in his life. Just think- he's going to New Zealand 4 months from today! I still need to pinch myself.
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