"Dear Sister Shoop,

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 El Salvador Santa Ana/Belize Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 18 months. You should report to the Guatemala Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, March 6. 2013. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language."

Operation 54

For Dad's birthday this year I thought it would be fun to suprise him at work with some balloons and goodies. Ben and I called it "Operation 54" because it was a suprise for his 54th birthday so OBVIOUSLY it needed a code name. It was a huge success! Ben came home from school at lunch and we went to Dad's work while he was out to lunch. We set everything up and then waited for him to get there. He was so suprised and loved it! Some of his coworkers even came over and said they were glad we came or they would not have known it was his birthday (which is true and that's part of why we did it). He showed us around the office and then we left so he could get back to work.

 

(He had no pictures of us in his office, just a few on his computer.)

 

Doesn't he look happy??

 

I love my Dad and am so grateful to have him in my life. I don't know what my life would be like without him and never want to find out. He is the best dad a girl could ask for and I love him so much.

Happy Birthday Dad!

General Conference With Rilee!

WAY back in October, Rilee and I scored highly coveted tickets to General Conference (the only two our ward received!). We were excited, and I was even more excited since I had heard about the age change for missionaries. I saw the trip up to Salt Lake for the session as the first thing I would do to celebrate my decision to serve a full time mission for the church.

Rilee and I left about 30 minutes before the Sunday morning session let out and made it to the Conference Center just after they opened the doors for the afternoon session. Seeing as the seats were first come first serve (in each section) we scored some GREAT seats.

 

(I left the bar in the picture so you could see it exactly how I saw it.)

 

Rilee and I had a wonderful time listening to the prophets and apostles speak and teach us. I felt truly blessed to be able to sit in a room with such amazing people and feel the powerful spirit that was in the room. It was especially amazing because Rilee had never been to the Conference Center before.

 

 

 

As we were leaving we stopped for a few pictures on the balcony with the temple in the background, and Rilee suddenly perked up when she heard someone speaking Japanese over a microphone. Looking over the balcony, we saw a group of sister missionaries speaking all different languages offering to teach people.

 

 

It was an amazing day and I spent it with one of my best friends. I hope that someday each of my family members will be able to go to the Conference Center and listen to the prophet lead and teach us. I am so happy to have the gospel in my life and am so happy to be getting ready to serve a full time mission.