|||2021 WATTYS SHORTLIST||| Not everyone's high school experience involves hot romance, parties and big plans for the future. Some kids are shy. Some kids are socially awkward. Some kids have heavy burdens placed on them by their families or their r...
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 Alaska Anchorage Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months.
You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on August 18. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the English language.
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As is the trend for future missionaries when they receive word of where they'll be sent, Neil posted a video of himself making the reveal on YouTube. Many of these videos are huge productions with music and splashy graphics. Neil told his parents he didn't want anything like that. His parents agreed, though he rejected Leo's suggestion that the video be text-only, showing his mission destination and a quote from former church president Spencer W. Kimball: "Humility is essential in missionary work."
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"That's beautiful country up there. I think it's easier to feel the Holy Ghost in a place full of natural beauty," remarked an impressed Grandpa Cannon when he saw he video.
"Neil didn't look too happy," noted Grandma.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Leo and Annie were cheering and applauding, and he just kind of smiled and didn't say anything. Looked upset."
"Well, the Lord has spoken, right? You can't question that."
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As the days grew longer, Neil could now make a day trip to Alamo Square on a Sunday after church and get home before sundown, so there was no more need for Sabrina to sneak away on Shabbat. She still had to keep her relationship with him a secret, but had one less mitzvah violation to her credit.
Leo and Annie trusted Neil so much he only needed to say he was going for a drive and there were no further questions asked.
"What's the strangest place you've seen your house?" he asked her, clarifying that "My parents had Wheel of Fortune on during dinner, and they had some kind of San Francisco-themed thing on the set, and they had like seven-foot model replicas of the houses. I've seen jigsaw puzzles with them."
"Oh, puzzles are nothing," she replied, wearing a Stanford sweatshirt. "A few years ago some company started putting out rows of portable toilets painted up like the houses."
After that he showed her the missionary announcements he'd just gotten finished the day before.
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"How much was the parka?" wondered Sabrina.
"That's actually not mine. We borrowed it from our neighbor. He goes skiing a lot."
