"You Are Hereby Called To..."

PSYCH!!

Hahaha hold your horses now! I've still gotta tell y'all about my Thanksgiving weekend!! I will mentioned, however, that I KNEW my mission call was going to come the ONE week I wasn't going to be in Rexburg! Talk about killing a kid, sheesh.

Anywho! Christian, Audrey, baby Kali, and I all set out for Tri-Cities about 3 pm on Tuesday, stopped at Costco for dinner and a few groceries, and we all finally pulled in to the Rhoten's place about 1:30 am. (Or 2:30 am Rexburg time. Bleh!) I crashed on the couch, and the next morning I woke up to a giddy and fun-loving Jackson! (: (:

I love that little guy so much!! We all hung out most of the next day, and then Dene', Jackson, and I took off for Yakima to stay at Keith and Kristen's. I was definitely loving all the family time with my parents, West, Dene', Jackson, Keith, Kristen...It was great. I just had to catch a quick picture of Grampa playing with Jackson: grabbing his feet and making him fall back on his butt. Bahaha Jackson got a kick out of it. :P

West and I got to camp out on the living room floor, so we were continually creepin' on each other and whatever the other was doing on each other's technology. (;

"Heyyy thurrr!"

We had Thanksgiving dinner with Grandpa Maxwell and Kay, stayed another night, and took off the next day to spend a WHOLE HOUR in Quincy haha. Technically I can say I went home...Sorta haha. Either way, I had to get some Dinkus cuddle time in. (: I love my kittyyyy!

We quickly headed out for Spokane to meet up with Chris and Erin Clark, and we went to The. Best. Burger. Place. EVER. Oh my goodness. I died of deliciousness. I WILL go there again before leaving for my mission haha. Anywho, we went back to the Chris and Erin's place, and Chris and Dad were hooked on some flying game. It was so funny watching them, I had to snap a photo and get a quick video haha. For Dad's sake, I won't post the video. (; But I love the picture, because you can see Dad making flying noises with his mouth. :P

Love you, Papa! (; The next morning we met up with Christian, Audrey, and her family for breakfast before going to pick out a Christmas tree! :D This is the "adults" posing haha.

Mi hermano y padre. They're pro tree-cutters by now. (;

Freezing my butt off.

Mi mama y yo. Warming up by the fire with...

S'MORES!

Yup. We did this Christmas "Hick Style".

Missed this kid WAY too much since last May. (: 

And I got to sit with this giggly gal all the way home! (:

So on Friday afternoon, I had texted one of my roommates and asked if she had checked the mailbox yet for my call! No answer. Gah. Ever heard of Death by Mail? Yeah, it was a first for me, too. Anywho, I finally texted my other roommate Saturday afternoon after getting the Christmas tree...My poor family. Suddenly they hear squeals and screams from the back seat: "AGHABA MY MISSION CALL IS THERRREEE AGGGHHHHAAA!!!"

Dad: "Say what??"

Shelan: **Repeating squeals and screams**

Score!! I was so excited!! Except for one fact...I was still in Washington, eight hours away from my call. Didn't think dying twice was possible? Fairly certain I proved that wrong. I was dying that whole night, but I was so excited the next morning. We (Christian, Audrey, Kali, and I) all hopped in the car, said bye to Audrey's sisters, and got on the road two minutes before our desired "Time of Departure". (That's saying a lot, considering our departure time from Rexburg was postponed three hours haha). All along the drive home I was texting everybody and writing down people's guesses for where I might go, all while staring at my ideal guess: Argentina...

Many may wonder why I wanted to serve in Argentina in the first place, because "Why?" is almost always the follow-up question after "Where do you want to go?" Most of my family understands why I want to go here haha, but perhaps some of the extended family and other friends don't. I have one weird name that basically sums it up: Cornu-Labat. 

Curious as to who they are? I'm "Facebook friends" with their entire, incredible family. Yes, I dated their son Felipe for a short while during high school, but let me make it clear that that is NOT the reason I want to go to Argentina haha. I did come to know the Cornu-Labat's through Felipe, though, and I absolutely fell in the love with that family. The youngest is the only daughter, and she is the baby sister I never had. She's a sporty, fun-loving gal. I loved seeing her almost everyday and getting her hugs. (: Crazy, Pauline. The middle child was the popular, out-going Alfonso! His parents call him Alfon usually; I called him Fonzo. (: Then comes Felipe, who is a couple years younger than me. Could you tell? Probably not. He's almost an entire foot taller than me. Something I came to notice about the Argentine culture, though, was their energy for LIFE. They live to love life and party it up! The Cornu parents are one of the most incredible parents I've ever met. The entire family has a special place in my heart. Anywho, while they lived in Quincy, I spent a lot of time with them all haha. They spoke Spanish around their home typically, and I loved listening to their "sh" accent. They sort of let me into their family and shared with me SO much about the Argentine culture. They let me be a part of their celebrations, birthdays, food, lifestyle, everything. I absolutely loved it all. And then some unfortunate events came around, as life tends to do, and they all moved back to Buenos Aires, Argentina. I went to go visit during school the day Felipe was leaving, and all was well. I gave him his and his brother, sister, and mom their letters, and we had lunch and relaxed. Then it came time for us to say good-bye...I managed to not cry in front of the rest of the Cornu's, but Felipe, being my best friend and understanding it'd be a long "see ya later", walked me out to my truck and gave me the big, familiar hug. Although we weren't dating, he was/is still one of my best friends. And let me tell you, it is hard to drive away from a family so dear to you, unsure of when you'll see them again. It wasn't until I was leaving for college that I was finally able to write my good-bye letter to Gaston, the father of the family. It's hard to describe him and Ana in short terms, but all I will say is that he wrote me back soon after, calling me an extra daughter of his. Had I ever been to Argentina? Nope! Haha. But ever since, I have always wanted to experience this wonderful place in person. 

Okay!! So we were driving! We got home about 7:30, and I had told everyone that I was planning on opening my call at EXACTLY 9 o'clock. Not one minute early, not one minute late! (Like I could have actually waited an extra minute. Psh.) I don't have these pictures, but Christian and Audrey do, so I'll have to include them next time. Or I'll just add them later. (:

I had my FHE brothers all around, a couple softball gals, my best friend from California (Kelsey), more BYUI friends, my wonderful roommates, my brother and sister in person, and the rest of my family on skype--all rooting me on as I shakily opened my letter! I was thoroughly surprised that I did not cry! I am fairly certain that I was shaking too much haha. Can I tell ya a little secret? I "accidentally" glanced a couple lines down while reading the beginning lines of my letter and saw where I was going. It truly was an accident, though! I swear haha. Peripheral vision just gets the better of us on occasion haha. Anywho! For the great announcement!!!

"Dear Sister Lybbert:

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 Argentina Mendoza 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 27, 2013."

**Sigh** I am so unbelievably blessed. I'm not sure how rare/common it is that a missionary is called to serve where they really want to go, but...Goodness. I have work to do! And I am SO excited. I may not have cried while opening my call, but I bawled in thanks on my knees that night to my Heavenly Father...Thank heavens I'm taking a Spanish class this semester. :D Viva Argentina!

"If you work your mission hard, it will be easy; if you work your mission easy, it will be hard."