Name Tag

Hey Everybody! This last Friday, I hit my year mark. I have been a full time missionary for more than a year now. While I was getting dressed to go to church this Sunday, I put my suit jacket on and realized that I left my name tag on my other jacket due to the cold. As I looked at myself in the mirror, with my suit on, but without a tag, I thought that the sight before me was very strange. It was like I was a whole different person. I thought to myself, is this what I'm gonna look like in a year's time? I can't even imagine myself without the tag on. It's almost as if the tag contains my whole identity, and my identity is summarized thus: ELDER CALL LA IGLESIA DE JESUCRISTO DE LOS SANTOS DE LOS ULTIMOS DIAS Yep, that's who I am. It's interesting that my Dad and my older brothers all had the exact same thing written over their hearts like I do, although for one of them it was written in English and for another it was written in Cebuano. It marks or marked us as servants of the Lord, and soldiers in His army, continuing the battle on Earth as it was in heaven thousands or maybe millions of years ago. It's hard to imagine me as the sweaty wife beater and baseball cap clad stone factory worker or the long haired high school student. The change that has been wrought upon me is remarkable. Today I got an email from my Mission President. He said that our mission complement has increased from 190 missionaries to 250, and that every mission in California has been increased to that number. They haven't arrived yet, but still. He also said that "Elder Marcus A . Aidukaitis of the Seventy told us this past week that the average for missionary applications per week had been averaging 300 per week and there were 4500 the first week after General Conference, 4700 the second week and another 2700 half way through the third week!! Instead of about thousand applications since Conference, there probably have been close to 14,000!! Now that is a true hastening of the work!" It excites me to see that many warriors coming. Many of my friends have already applied or plan on it soon, and I am proud of them. This is a great time to be a missionary! I love you all! Joe