The Call

Tyler's mission call came on April 9, 2015.

We had an anxious wait of several hours before he opened it.  Grandma and Grandpa Perry came, along with Ryan and Stacy and their family, Joe and Sandra Fife (our Young Men's President and his wife, Rob and Joanna Mantz (our long-time home teacher and his wife),and some of Tyler's good friends: Calvin and Sam (Billy) Mikesell, Emmett Johnson, and Ben Stapley.  We had many other family members on the phone listening.

I had been very anxious after Tyler put in his papers.  All of a sudden the world seemed like a big, scary place and I worried about where he would go.  That night when the Fife's came over, I introduced them to my parents and they started visiting.  They discovered that the mission my parents were going to (California San Diego mission with special assignment to an institute in Chula Vista) was the same place that Joe Fife grew up.  They visited about that for a little bit and then I mentioned to my parents where their son, Christian, was serving his mission.  He's is Tacoma, WA, the same mission that my Uncle Bruce and Aunt Linda are currently serving.  They visited more about stories that they had heard from that mission.  Then came the time for Tyler to open his mission call.  When he read that he would be serving in the Korea Seoul Mission, Joe Fife said that is where he served his mission.  I feel like the Fife's presence that night was a gift for me, a tender mercy from Heavenly Father.  After so many coincidences, the world didn't seem nearly so big and scary.  I felt good about it.  I could send my boy to Korea.

One funny thing from the night: When Tyler opened his mission call, there was a lot of excitement and everyone was talking, hugging, etc.  Then Tate said, "Wait!  Isn't that country our enemy?"  He was apparently worried that Tyler would be going to North Korea.  I was impressed that a nine year old paid enough attention to the world around him to know anything about North Korea.

When news started traveling about where Tyler's call was to, we discovered more people who have served in Korea (not necessarily the same mission):  my uncle Todd Perry, my cousins' husbands, Ron Case and Steve Hansen, Scott Nelson, Scott Jones, Joe Fife, and John Humpherys.  Also, there's a young man from our ward, Matt Dewey, currently serving there.  It's a small world after all.