Why I Went

In my first post I told you about My Dream. Going to Israel was something I had dreamed about since I was 14. It was a dream, though, because I never thought it would happen. Little did I know, that was a call from God. He planted this seed of desire in my heart early in my life.

As I continued in my life I would tell everyone who asked that if I could go anywhere I would go to Israel. I would joke with my dad that we should take our next family trip over there. And then, my freshman roommate talked to me about how she thought it would cool to go to the BYU Jerusalem Center; and a light switched on. I realized, I could do that. A few months later in October of 2012, the mission age for girls was changed from 21 to 19. As I prayed to know if I should serve a mission, I was instead pushed in the direction of Israel. So I looked into it. I began talking with my dad who agreed to pay for half of the expenses. Still, that left me short quite a bit of money until I was given the opportunity to work all summer at a summer camp. Literally, everything fell into place and that's when I knew that this was my call from God.

Prior to leaving on this journey, I received a Priesthood Blessing of counsel. In the blessing I was told that I was being sent to Jerusalem. As I traveled to this foreign land, I kept this in my heart to try to understand exactly why God wanted me there. I quickly became absorbed in classes, friends, experiences, etc. and I had no idea why I was there. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind, but I continued to wonder. 

While in Galilee, I felt prompted to seek for another blessing from a friend. What an amazing experience it was. And there the Lord manifested His knowledge of my desire to know. I was blessed to know my purpose there and why God sent me. This added fuel to the fire. As I continued to study and learn and pray, it was all with the intent for this to be revealed to me. With just weeks before I was to leave my new home, I was desperate. I feared that I would not be able to accomplish my purpose. How devastating that would be.

 I had traveled some 7,000 miles on an errand from God. My total time there was four months, and my time was almost up. My time was up and I still didn't know why I was called to the Holy Land.