Sapporo Japan For Princess Four

Princess Four has wanted to go on a mission for some time. About a year ago, I was driving with her to a Disney audition and we talked about her serving as a missionary. Here is a link to a post about that.

I told her that missions can be very hard at times and you have to KNOW that you KNOW you are to be there as a missionary or it makes it hard to be there and some people come home. 

I told her that if she KNOWS she is supposed to be there and gets sick, then she knows it is part of the experience but if she is just out there for a "trip" to another country, she won't last. 

I told her she should pray to God asking if he wanted her to serve as a missionary so that if she chooses to go, she will KNOW she is supposed to be there. 

Having that knowledge makes getting through the difficult times easier. I told her that she doesn't need to get sick to come home and if she feels like she wants to come home, she should just "choose" to come home rather than getting injured or sick to justify coming home. 


Not that I think either of my girls did that but I believe Princess Two had to come home so that the missionary medical would help pay for her gallbladder surgery as we had no health insurance for her at that time. She was in Taiwan long enough to learn Chinese and then home to get surgery. Here is a link to that post. 


With all that said, she is truly enthusiastic about going and I KNOW that she KNOWS that she is supposed to go on a mission. I don't think missions are for everyone but she REALLY wants this, every day she is working on gaining more knowledge and trying to be a better person.


Today, she went out serving with some local missionaries serving in our area and is going back out on Thursday to serve with them again. She was so cute going to the mailbox and the look of excitement on her face when she saw the packet in the box. She couldn't resist running into the house and just collapsed on the floor with anticipation. 

We got on conference calls once everyone was home from work and we got the cameras rolling and she read out her call and when she read "Sapporo Japan" none of us could believe it. Not one person guessed she would go there. She said that Japan was her second choice but you don't get to write that down when submitting your papers, they just pick for you. 

She has had several years of Spanish and with her sisters going foreign, she thought she may go to South America somewhere but she is SO excited to go there. 

It is really cold and gets lots of snow and you can see Russia from the tip of her mission so she is a bit nervous about how cold it will be. She has to purchase a bike, helmet, mirrors, lights etc when arriving for $500. She needs $200 for fees when traveling and $60-$80 for bedding when she gets there as well as getting her ready. 

God is good and someone who wants to remain anonymous said they would donated $100 a month to the cost of the $400 monthly and my dad and his wife are doing $100 as well so we are halfway to the monthly fees. She has been working hard at several jobs during the summers and one during her school year so she has enough to cover the rest but I hope she can have something to come home to. I used my retirement to help pay for Princess One and Two's missions so they could have some funds to get back into school when they got home. 

I know God will provide as he always does. We are VERY excited for her to have this experience and learn the worlds 9th most common language. We have the top three covered with Chinese - Princess Two. Spanish - Prince One and we all speak high school Spanish. We have English which is third. 
 
I doubt we will get four and five but I took Portuguese in college and understand it some but Princess Five may be able to serve as a missionary and learn Portuguese or Russian. I have many cousins that learned Russian and eventually served as missionaries there. We will now have five out of ten of the worlds top languages.   

We have a few months to get her ready and she will be leaving in November just before Thanksgiving.... Exciting times......