Plot Twist!

Sister Green's Adventure to the Philippines......see what I did there? I rhymed. That alone should be incentive for you to read this blog. If that wasn't enough, then how about this? I'm Shannon Green, soon to be Sister Green as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Philippines Legaspi mission. This blog is going to be my link to all of you who weren't on facebook when I asked for email addresses to put in the chain. Great news! You get to here my experiences all the same. If you did give me your email, ooooh, lucky you. You get twice the news and twice the Shannon writing! Yeah I know. That was terribly written. But I'd appreciate no judgement on that.

I'm really excited to leave in four days, and I get set apart on General Conference Sunday. I'm so incredibly anxious, jumpy, and stressed, but in a GOOD way. In a way that constantly reminds me how big a step I'm taking and how many people I can bring closer to Christ. It'll be such a humbling experience (which I could definitely use), and I'm so stoked to be able to share the gospel. I didn't used to be so strong in it, and I'm so happy now that I've accepted it as the truth. I love the gospel with all my heart.

Tomorrow, it will be a year to the day that President Monson announced that girls could go on their missions at the age of nineteen. I wasn't that affected by the announcement at the time, because I had lived my entire life convinced that I was the LAST person on earth to serve a mission. I had no desire, and I hated the immense pressure that was suddenly shoved onto me by sources that I mostly made up in my own head. And now, a year later, I've changed. Five months after the announcement, I prayed and received confirmation that serving a mission is what I'm supposed to do. It was a surprise, and a major sacrifice to decide to leave everything going on in my life and just go. But I made the choice, and I don't regret it for a second. This is where I'm supposed to be. This is what I'm supposed to be doing. I love this church and I would give up my life for it, so a mission is what needs to happen. My Heavenly Father helped change my heart and now the girl who used to swear up and down that a mission was never going to happen is now about to go across the world to share the gospel to God's children in the Philippines.

Talk about plot twist.


SPOILER: Since this is a missionary blog, there is going to be a lot of testimony-bearing on here. If you don't like that sort of thing, which I would definitely understand, then perhaps this isn't the best blog for you to be following, because *hint* I won't be talking about anything else besides my mission. Consult yourself on whether or not you're all in with reading by blog before continuing, because it's about to get real.