A Mission Call

Kjell's brother Bjorn drove down from BYU-Idaho a few weeks ago to open his mission call. In 2008 there were 348 missions throughout the world and over 52,000 full-time missionaries. Here is some more information about the process of receiving your mission call:

After application to the church and the requisite approval, prospective missionaries receive a “call to serve”—an official notification of their location assignment—through the mail from the President of the Church. The mission call will also inform the prospective missionary what language he will be expected to use during his mission. Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are responsible for assigning missionaries to a particular mission.

A missionary serves for 24 months. Kjell and his brothers who served missions began saving for their mission from the time they were 12 years old. You do not get to choose where you are called to serve...

...drumroll please...

...Colorado, Colorado Springs!

Hurray for Bjorn, he is very excited.

He'll be doing a lot of testifying of the Book of Mormon on his mission:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9cVyTbX1kM

Photo (L-R): Joshua McCord (served Canada Halifax mission), Olivia McCord, Bjorn McCord, Kjell McCord (served West Indies mission - French speaking), Wether McCord (future missionary), Mike Smith (served Charleston, South Carolina mission). Picture taken by Meredith Law, Bjorn's girlfriend (served Columbia, South Carolina mission).

Colorado, Colorado Springs Mission

Many returned Missionaries (RMs) travel back to their missions after being released. Kjell has been wanting to visit his mission for quite a while now. Lucky for me he served in the southeast Caribbean so, come January, we'll be off to St. Maarten! Kjell has been brushing up on his French by translating at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo.