The Final Entry -- Pre-mission

Hello all who have been keeping up with my life as a waiting missionary girlfriend! I'm coming to the close of this chapter of my life and about to start an exciting new one. I leave my hometown January 22, 2013 - just one short, full day from now. Although I am so excited about the mission, I will be sad to leave my wonderful friends and family back home. 

Life has been pretty hectic since the last time that I wrote. I got really sick and was out of commission for about a week until I got a blessing from my dad and brother saying I would start to heal quickly and that I didn't need to worry -- I would be better before it was time to leave for the MTC. Isn't the Priesthood amazing? I honestly started feeling better from the moment they laid their hands on my head. I just feel so blessed to have this power so prevalent in my life. 

After I started feeling better, I started helping Dad out at work with some emergency paperwork he needed to get done. I always enjoy working with him because he will always take me out for a Daddy/daughter lunch!

I am a nerd, so I went to my old high school to visit all of my favorite people as well. I've found that it's pretty hard to say goodbye... It was really wonderful to get to see them all again and share the news about my going to serve the Lord.

I also recently tried snowboarding for the first time. My Dad and brother Chris would both tell you that I did awesome if you asked, but that's a lie.... I was on my butt most of the day. And boy oh boy, was I sore after! I really had a great time and I believe that the next time I go, I will do much much better.  

After that, it was time to work on my Farewell talk. I had 15-20 minutes on a topic that was unassigned... I thought I was going to have a heart-attack. But it went surprisingly well! I got my ideas from President Uchdorf's talk about finding finding your own "Happily Ever After." It's one of my favorites and has such a wonderful message that should be continually shared. 

Sunday evening, I got to have one last hurrah and had the wonderful opportunity to see so many wonderful people who have made such a large impact on my life. My parents threw me a wonderful farewell including delicious food! I felt so blessed to have so many friends and family come to send me off. I honestly don't know what I have ever done to be so incredably lucky! Thanks so much everyone! You'll never understand what it means to me to have you all so involved in my life! I love you!

So, it's the Monday before I leave for the MTC. I will be getting set apart tonight, so I will no longer be blogging or facebooking. I will be spending the first 6 weeks of my mission in the Missionary Training Center in Utah. I would love to hear from whomever would like to write. My address is:
Sister Madison Claire Perry
MTC Mailbox # 253
CA-LA 0306
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793    

 It's finally my turn to go out and serve the Lord. I cannot wait to get to share this incredible gospel with those who are so readily searching for a sure foundation in which they can build their life.  I want to let you all know how much I love this gospel and I know this church to be true. The Book of Mormon in along with the Bible give you all the answers you need to know to return to live with your Heavenly Father for time and all eternity. It is THE ONLY way by which man can be saved. The Lord has promised us that if we hold true to the commandments and teachings that we have been taught, we will be able to gain all things. He will always keep His promises. I hope those of you who do have the gospel in your lives will treasure it and share it with others. And I hope that those of you who may not have it, will come unto Christ. Rely on his everlasting love. Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world and we owe everything to Him. 

The Man in Milan

For those of you wondering, Landon is doing really well. This is his first transfer as a trainer and despite what he says, he is doing a fantastic job. Even with all the craziness that has been going on, I can assure you that I have not be shurking my girlfriend-ly duties. His birthday and Valentines day are coming up really soon. I just sent him a super cute package with the deck of cards with 52 things I loved about him, a homemade pillowcase, candy, a tie, and some other fun treats.  Life as a missionary girlfriend can sure be hard at times, but waiting is the most wonderful decision that I have ever made. I hope that any other MG's out there remember that! The Lord has blessed me in so many ways for my decision, especially with this opportunity I have to go and serve myself. 

Anyway, that's all for now... So long for 18 months. 

Having a Grand Old Time

Being home has been wonderful, but super busy. I don't think I have even switched sleeping patterns to this time zone yet because we've had so much going on to keep me off of it. There was of course Christmas, getting out two new lab puppies, the trip to Amish country, and we can't forget Haley's baby shower! It's been a crazy month. 

These are our two new pups who have been quite the handful. Giselle (left) and Kiera (right). They love my brother's dog Dopey who is also living with us right now. Potty training is going pretty well. We still have a few accidents every once in a while, but more often than not, they run to the door and whine to be let out. We are all so proud! It's weird to think that by the time I get home from my mission, they will be full grown. 

 Then, of course some exciting news is that we have all survived the end of the world (Congratulations) and have successfully made it to 2013!!!! 

I started off my New Year exactly the way I wanted to- talking to my fella (on tape). My family had a wonderful night with food, games, and friends. 

Next on my list of things to do was plan my sister-in-law's baby shower. My Chris and his wife Haley (well, mostly Haley) decided that they didn't want to find out what their baby was until the baby shower. So, we were to either decorate the whole room in Mickey or Minnie Mouse to let them know when they walked in. 

 Here's a majority of the decorations that we did. We lined pink and blue balloons and little Mickey head cutouts all throughout the hallway to get them more excited to find out what little Peaches (that's the nickname for the baby) was. Then when they walked in, we had a blue balloon drop and all of these fabulous Mickey Mouse decorations. My wonderful friend Mert and my sister-in-law Patti came up with all of the ideas. I just helped to execute them. We ended up homemaking the cake with a huge amount of help from my wonderful Aunt Linda. Chris and Haley are thrilled to finally know what their little boy is!

Now it's Crunch Time

16 days in counting until I enter the MTC and I get set apart 2 days before that. I can't believe how quickly this is all happening. I've gotten just about everything done that I need. Clothes shopping complete (except for one or two more pairs of shoes), shots done, set up missionary email address... It's all coming along very nicely. Within the next 2 weeks, I have plans to go out with the sister missionaries and start dipping my feet in the water of full time missionary service. I am going so extremely excited!

How's the Fella?

 Landon is doing great. He just recently got a new companion and the two of them get along very well and are having great success. This is his first transfer as a trainer so he's a little nervous about that, but I know that he will do a wonderful job. We are coming up on his 8 month mark in 2 days so that is really exciting! He is getting so excited for me to be out in the mission field with him. We can't wait to swap stories and ideas and help each other along in our call.

The mail service in Italy drastically slowed during the holiday season so, as of my last letter and email, he has not received any Christmas packages yet from either me or his family. Hopefully that will get to him soon. 

Now, before I enter the MTC, I need to worry about his birthday and Valentines Day package. I can't believe that he's turning 20 in just a little less than a month! And I am so excited to celebrate another Valentines day with him. The past 18 months of my life since I have met him have honestly been better than I could have ever imagined. Even with the distance, he's  my best friend. I couldn't imagine my life without him in it. He and I say all of the time that it feels like we've known each other an entire lifetime. I am so glad that we both ended up going to the Hill Cumorah pageant in the Summer of 2011. That trip not only majorly strengthened my Testimony of the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ, but changed my life by adding him in. I am grateful for that decision to attend every single day.

So, time is running up. But, I will write on here one last time before I go to serve the Lord. I love you all. Thanks for reading.   

Home for the Holidays

I sure do love getting to spend a little over a month back at home in good ol' WV. I've been keeping pretty busy ever since I got home.I've also gotten to spend a lot of time cooking, cleaning, and wrapping. Just trying to help my poor mother out as much as I can.  I've gotten a lot of opportunity to share the gospel and to get in the service mood. (Something I am really grateful for - especially at this wonderful time of the year). I got to give a talk in Sacrament and teach the lesson in YW on my first Sunday back to church at home. I wanted to share a little bit of that talk now, even though it's a little late:

"I have to admit that my family is no exception to the stereotypical busy Christmas season. We do the shopping, the trees, the lights, leave cookies out for Santa, buy matching pajamas, siblings all sleep in the same room Christmas Eve, and we can’t forget the annual picture at the top of the stairs before opening gifts – it’s such a fun time. It is at this most busy time, in between the gift giving and parties that we need to make a special effort to remember and commemorate the real reason for the season.

The Christmas season is a time to celebrate the priceless gift of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His birth, which we commemorate during this season, is more than the symbol of a holiday. He is the Son of God, the Redeemer of all mankind, the King of kings, the Prince of Peace, and our joy and salvation. Without the Savior coming into the world, the Plan of Salvation would have been void and we would never be able to return into the presence of our Heavenly Father or be able to be with our families after this life. Mortal life would be the end of any happiness, for we would be unworthy to enter into any level of Heaven. Thankfully, our Savior loved us enough to live a perfect life and later to go through all of the pains and suffering that anyone in the on earth would ever feel so that we can, through our Savior, be worthy to enter back into the presence of God. This Christmas season will have a greater meaning as we seek to follow His example and live His teachings."

I got to attend the Temple on the 22nd and received my endowments! One step closer to being able to go out and serve the Lord for the next year and 1/2. I can't believe that in less than a month, I will be in the MTC. It's going by so fast! 

Christmas was amazing! I got a lot of the stuff that I needed for the mission including my new luggage, books, a camera, and all of that good stuff! Thanks Mom and Dad! :)

 The next month will be a busy one for me. I've got some major skirt shopping and Preach My Gospel reading to do. I'll make sure to keep you all posted.

My Missionary

I got my package from Landon at the beginning of the week, but he told me that I wasn't allowed to open it until Christmas Eve. Although it was hard to wait, it was so worth it. Let me just brag a little about what he got me. This beautiful hat and scarf, earrings, a bracelet, and a tape! Otherwise, I got to SKYPE HIM TODAY!!!!! (Which happened to be my favorite Christmas present of all time!) It was just for a few minutes, but it was so amazing. Nothing has changed, really. We picked up right where we left off. We laughed and cried and all that jazz.

He is doing so incredibly well. He loves the work and the Italian people. Him and his companion seem to have people come and find them, something that is super rare with him being in a European country. I couldn't be more proud of him and all of the hard work that he is doing. I love him to pieces, I really do.

 

Exciting News!!!!!!!!

While being interviewed by my Bishop and Stake President yesterday to get my Temple recommend, I asked about the possibility of going out on my mission a little early so that I would be back in time to start that fall semester (I would have barely missed it by 3 weeks). Also, I would be sitting around at home doing nothing for 3 months. Don't get me wrong, I'd be more than happy to get to spend so much time with my family, but I would be missing out on a lot of school time. So, the Stake President said he thought that he could help me out. He said he would make a few phone calls and get back to me within the week. He called me this morning and my MTC entrance date has been moved forward to January 23, 2013. I am so excited. This is actually when I had hoped that I would leave! 

Life

How's it going with me? Honestly, It's been a rough past few weeks. There has been a lot of drama going on in my life, but I guess that happens to everyone every once in a while. My wonderful puppy even got hit by a car over the break..it was hard. However, thanks to my wonderful mother and friends back home, I have been able to get through it all. I also had a wonderful opportunity over Thanksgiving break to spend a lot of time with my mom, some of my aunt's and uncles, and even got to go visit Landon's family.   

My mom and I were driving pretty close to where they lived and I thought it would be great if I could see their family and if they got to meet my mom. So, on our way to Boise to visit my family, we stopped through to see him wonderful family. I was afraid at first that maybe it would be awkward for me to be there without him, but boy was I wrong! It felt just like my second home - exactly how it did when I would go there to see Landon. Landon's dad, whom usually doesn't have a whole lot to say to me, talked to me for over an hour about my mission because I am going to his mission - SUCCESS!!!! We have a bonding point now! I had such a great time getting to catch up on all of the stories that I've missed since I was there about 7 months ago. I felt a little nostalgic though, not going to lie. I even cried when it came time to leave. I am really going to miss the feeling of being so close to him as well as being around his amazing family.

(note to missionary girlfriends: if you are feeling distant from your missionary, visiting his family is a wonderful way to feel suddenly much closer. Landon was pretty thrilled with it too)

After all of that fun times, my mom and I also got to visit with a bunch of different missionaries that had served in our ward back home as well as some old family friends. I even got to meet my cousins who I had never gotten to meet before.

How's it going in Piacenza?

 Landon is doing so incredibly well. He is just completely engulfed in the work.

His letters and even my newest tape haven't really given me anything that I can share, no good stories or anything. I would share some more pictures, but I haven't even gotten many of those in a while. So, you'll just have to trust me when I say that they are working hard and loving every minute of it. He gets along really well with his current companion and they are having such wonderful success. He says that people seem to be coming to find them so much that they barely have to go out looking. I love hearing how his testimony grows each and every week. 

What's next for me?

Well, I don't have much time left before the mission now. Next week is final's week, so I'm trying to get myself ready for all of that. Otherwise, I'm just doing a lot of packing and saying goodbyes. I won't get to see a lot of my friends for a very long time. I have also been working hard to get myself spiritually prepared to serve the Lord full time. This is such an incredible opportunity that I know I can't take for granted. I feel so blessed for this opportunity to share something that is so extremely important to me with so many people. I am going to have a greater opportunity to tell the world about Heavenly Father's love for His children and His wonderful plan of salvation. I can share with so many that families really can be together forever. I can give them the answers to life's hardest question of where we come from, why we are on the earth, and where we are going. I love this gospel. I love my Savior. 

Suggestions for the Holiday Season 

More than usual, the holiday season is a time to show the love we have for the Savior and for those around us. While it can be so easy to get caught up in the gift-giving aspects of Christmas, try to do something to bring the focus back to what is truly important. This is a time to remember and celebrate the Savior of the world's birth. With all the hustle and bustle of the season, make sure to make a little time to REMEMBER the greatest gift we have been given - Heavenly Father's own Son come to pay for our sins and all of the pains we will endure during this life. And, more importantly, take the time to share this gift with others.

Well, that's it for now! Write again soon! 

Wisdom Teeth Removal

Boy am I glad that is over! Ok, I can't lie, I did get pretty lucky. The oral surgeon that removed my wisdom teeth did really well and it went super fast. Afterwards, my cousin, the lovely Allie Harrison, got some wonderful videos for you all to enjoy!

I am thinking you all would enjoy watching these much more than you would want to read about my experience. I was only in pain once and for a very short period of time. I am so grateful for the wonderful priesthood holders that I have around to have given me a blessing before I went in. I really do think it made all of the difference!

Called to Serve

Another exciting bit of information is that I received my mission call today!!!! I can't believe that a few months ago I didn't think I was going to get the opportunity and now I am!

Dear Sister Perry:
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the California Los Angeles Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months.
You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, March 6, 2013. You will preparet o preach the gospel in the Spanish language 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAhfzPL-GWk

 You can go here to watch it! 

I am so incredibly excited to serve the Lord. I know that this is what He wants of me and can't wait to share the gospel to the people of California!

Things in Italy

Everything with Landon is going really well. I didn't hear much from him in his email today because he couldn't stay on long. I am still waiting for my package with a tape for more in depth info! 

 

 

  

Waiting Time!

I've gotten a lot accomplished in the past few weeks. Mission papers all done!

Physical and dental appointments complete!

Contract sold!

Interviews finished!

Papers being submitted tonight!

Holy cow! I cannot believe that less than a month ago, I was not really planning on going on a mission and now I could be entering the MTC in a couple of months. I can't believe that within two weeks, I will know where I am going. I feel so extremely blessed that Heavenly Father has opened up a way for me to go out and serve him as a full-time missionary. I know that my Redeemer lives and that He loves each and every one of us. I know that He has a plan for our lives and I cannot wait until I get to share that plan with other! 

Fun Stuff To Come

So, while getting my dentist appointment, I found out that I have to get my wisdom teeth taken out...something my pediatric dentist back home told me that I wouldn't have to get done. Luckily for any of you who consistently read my blog, my wonderful roommates have promised videos and pictures whenever this occurs. 

Also, my mission papers should be here within the next two weeks. Since my family will not be here, I am planning on some major Google chatting so they can all be a part of opening my call. I am also gonna tape it and send the whole experience to Landon so he can feel a part of it. 

In less than a month, my Mom is going to come in town. While she's here, we are going to get to visit some of my family out in this area and Landon's family! I am so excited. I don't know if I have been this excited for an entire month in a really long time! 

  

About My Missionary

Landon and I just made it to our one year mark of dating! I couldn't feel more lucky to have such a wonderful guy come into my life. I am so proud of him and the work that he is doing and can't wait to get out there in the mission field with him!

 Landon is doing really well. He loves his new companion, who is from Virginia. He said they laugh together all of the time. They have been teaching tons of investigators and having wonderful success. In the past week, two of his investigators who had been living together got married! One step closer to baptism!
I love to hear how his testimony is growing with each and every week that he is out there.

 I am still waiting on a package from here to get here with my tape in it! I am so excited. 

I can't lie and say that I haven't been missing him like crazy, but I couldn't be more proud of him for the service that he is doing.

Missionary girlfriends: don't forget to let your fellas know how proud you are of them. They need to hear it. 

 

Well, that's it for now! I'll give more information soon!