The end of April, Jared received his mission call to the Asuncion Paraguay mission. He starts on August 12th at home for a week and then heads to the Missionary Training Center in Peru on August 20th or 21st. We're so grateful that (1) he got called to South America, where he hoped to serve and (2) his start date is after Nathan gets home from his mission. Jared put his availability date as the middle of July, hoping that would make way for a potential August start date (assuming that he would start about a month or so after his availability, as often happens with the mission calls). Jared wanted to see Nathan, but he also wanted to get back from his mission in time to start a fall semester of college. Jared got accepted and will head to BYU in fall 2026. Nathan returns on July 30th, so they will get to see each other for a short time. Anyway, it worked out just perfect.
Getting things ready for the call was pretty challenging though. It seemed like we were running into obstacles, while the Lord was also getting us through them. Jared had to get all his wisdom teeth out. He had dentist and doctor's appointments, along with bloodwork and TB test. We thought we were okay on the medical stuff, but more information was needed after we turned in the papers to the Stake President. Some of the items on the physical form had been left blank, they didn't actually do the physical check-up part of the visit (which was required), they were missing the bloodwork, and Jared had been seen by a PA which wasn't one of the listed doctor titles. So we set out the next morning to the doctor's office to see if we could get what was needed. Luckily, another doctor was able to review and sign off on the original visit. We hadn't been able to access the bloodwork results in his online health chart because he was a minor. We were able to get a copy of the results. He had to do the physical and get all the other missing items filled out on the form. Thankfully, we walked out with everything we needed.
After we left the doctor's office, Jared had the feeling we should head over to the dentist and try to get the x-ray that hadn't been done yet. The dental form asks for a specific x-ray that has been done within the last 6 months. He had done that x-ray about 9 months prior and it wouldn't be covered by insurance until July. We were originally going to submit the paperwork and see if they came back or not with the need for that x-ray. However, Jared felt we should just get it done if possible and not have to worry about the paperwork getting delayed. We arrived at the dentist and explained the situation to the lady at the front desk. She told us what we suspected; insurance wouldn't cover the x-ray until July. We said we were okay paying out of pocket. She went back and spoke with the dentist. Surprisingly, she returned with the news that the dentist would do the x-ray for free (and we could do it right then)! What a tender mercy from the Lord! Jared was able to tie up all the loose ends and get his paperwork submitted the next day. I think that may have allowed him to get a start date in August. Further delay could have pushed the date back to September. I know the Lord was aware of the desires of our hearts in this mission call.
We had several people come join us for the mission call opening. Jared hadn't seen the call yet, so it was very exciting watching him open the call. We're grateful for so much support. And two people even guessed correctly on the call - his friend Justin and mission prep teacher Brother Hixon.
We now have a lot of things to do to get ready to go - lots of things to buy, a couple immunizations, FBI background check, apostilled birth certificate, etc. And now Jared needs to start learning Spanish too!
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