Hermana Talia Wheeler--Called to Serve

Perhaps it's fitting that the blogpost immediately following Brooklyn's mission homecoming should be all about Talia's call to missionary service.

Yesterday afternoon I received the most unexpected text: a screenshot of Talia's phone.

Her mission call had arrived on a Monday! We were shocked, not only because calls have traditionally come on Tuesday, but because it hadn't even been two weeks since her papers were submitted.

With little time to process, we gathered the immediate family and hopped into the car so that we could drive down to Provo and be with Talia during this important moment. On the way, we started sending out Zoom links to even more friends and family in the hopes that they could join on the spur of the moment. Amazingly, so many people came! Talia, you are loved.

As our Talia Lily read her beautiful call, I wept. I felt this incredible assurance that she had indeed been called by the Lord to serve. I felt how God knows and loves her, just as I do. And I felt how much the people she serves will be blessed by her love.

Before she opened her call, we sang "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go." So where does God want Talia to go? Our Hermana Talia Lily Wheeler has been called to serve in the Argentina Santa Fe mission!

So far, and yet so right. 

On the way to Provo, Annika was complaining how she had to say goodbye to another one of her sisters when the first one just got home. But you could see that Annika was happy for Talia, as we all are.

I'm glad Talia had friends there to support her. Here she is joined by her roommate Molly, her friend Hannah and bestie Clara.

The Spirit can be felt in so many ways. For Talia, the nerves and excitement and anticipation and spiritual confirmation all came through with bright red cheeks that were flaming hot to touch.

Grateful for a family photo. Thanks to Brooklyn's roommate Bella for taking it. (We opened the call in Brooklyn's Cinnamon Tree apartment.

Talia, we love you SO much. We are proud of your courage in following the promptings you received to serve a mission. I know it wasn't an easy decision to make, but hope you can feel confidence in knowing that you took your questions to the Lord and received real answers. We will miss you ever so much, but we will be ever so glad to be reunited again. Long live the family group hugs!

Just for the record, while we didn't collect many mission predictions, multiple people guessed Argentina, including Papa Kay, Grandpa Charles, and Aunt Callie! I guessed South America, but as my Mom pointed out, that was definitely hedging my bets. Assuming all goes to plan, Talia begins home MTC on June 3rd, leaves for the Mexico Missionary Training Center on June 18th, and departs for Argentina July 15th.  And of course, she'll be sharing the Gospel in Spanish. It will be fun to tell everyone that she is serving in Santa Fe and see how many people assume New Mexico or California. In truth, I didn't even know that Santa Fe, Argentina existed! Her mission borders Uruguay and has a humid, subtropical climate with 42 inches of rain per year. Gonna be exciting. :) Felicidades, Hermana. Te queremos.