Sister Torie Inman: Sister Inman Letter

My middle name should be "One-in-a-million"

Wow. Can I get any more of a crazy past few months? My goodness. For a few months, it felt as if my whole world was crashing down and bursting into flames. Now, it seems like nothing could possibly go better, and the blessings of heaven are showering down upon m. I am happy, and I feel so blessed. I have definitely been able to feel the Lord's love for me during the past week. Holy cow.

These are some excerpts from my journal:

Monday:

P-day, lots to do. Sister Holden next door is SUPER nice and did all of our laundry, because we don't have a washing machine anymore and there are no Laundromats nearby. We owe her big time.

Tuesday:

Not a bad Tuesday!

Visited Brother Dahlke, and had a super good conversation with him about his mission in Austria and Germany. He has some pretty aweet stories!

We went Christmas caroling in our area with the Elders... That was fun... Nobody really answered in our area that we wanted to see, and we started late, (like 8pm) so it wasn't as effective as we had hoped. But it's okay! It was fun. TOMORROW IS THE HALF MISSION CHRISTMAS CONFERENCE/PARTY! I'm so excited. We are actually carpooling with the Phippen's and the Zone Leaders! That oughtta be fun. Road trip to Benson!

WEDNESDAY.

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE. I can't fully describe the joy that I have experienced today, but I will try.

So this morning, we met at the Stake Center where the Phippen's picked us up. Then we drove to Huachuca city to pick up the Zone Leaders (Elders Judy and Wyman).

Anyway, so the Christmas conference. I think there were about 80 missionaries there, plus the mission office staff. Gila Valley, New Mexico, and Sierra Vista Zones were there. I got to see Elders Dilworth and Deyarmond from last transfer there! It was fun to see familiar faces. :) I saw President Passey and he said, so, do you want your mission call? And I was thinking, "Um, yeah I want my mission call!!!!! :D" So he gave it to me in a FedEx envelope and I started flipping out a little bit inside haha. I went around and asked people for guesses. Not even President or Sister Passey knew where I was going!

Anyway, so we did recitations and the mission song. Some fun things there were a paper snowflake contest, a clothing exchange, a photo booth with a backdrop, and Elder O'shia set up a little shop where he will shine and buff your shoes haha. Good things like that. But after recitations, President announced good news in the mission, and then he said, "We also have some exciting news... Sister Torie Inman has been serving with us for almost 3 months now, and has received her permanent mission call! (etc.) Let's get some guesses where she will be serving!" (People shared some of their guesses).

I then began to open it, and realized we needed to call Sister Brown (my first companion). So we did, and then I opened it! I debated whether to look ahead or not, but I decided to anyway. OH. MY. GOODNESS. My jaw dropped, I couldn't believe my eyes. It took some effort, as I had to stop a couple times, but I finally was able to read, "Sister Inman, you are hereby called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints... You are assigned to labor in the Arizona Tucson Mission......I lost it. Tears everywhere. Huge claps and shouting and cheering from every single person in the room. Almost everyone was standing up, cheering for me, grinning from ear to ear. Some people were even crying, (including President and Sister Passey, as well as some people who never even show emotion!) I felt so loved and welcomed into the mission. Like I was finally a part of the mission, like I can claim ownership of it completely.

Words cannot describe the joy that I have felt today. I am just so filled with gratitude for the knowledge that Heavenly Father is very much aware of me. He loves me so much that He sent me to Tucson, Arizona, and allowed me to become comfortable here, knowing that this is exactly what I needed. He knew what my anxieties and personal struggles were. He knew I needed this experience first. He knew I needed the guidance and love of President and Sister Passey to help me during this whole thing.

I got to call Mom at home with everybody there, and then Dad was on his lunch break at work, so that worked out perfectly. Everyone was surprised when they picked up the phone and heard "Mom?" "Dad?" Crazy.

I am beyond excited. I am so so thankful. The Lord has blessed me so much, and I know He answers sincere prayers. He has sure answered every single one of mine during this time. Today is the best day ever. I am so happy. :)

Thursday: Christmas Eve, we did service at the ranch, pulling tumbleweeds again. We had first dinner with the Haws family (one of the Haws' families, there are a few) 2nd dinner was at the Stacey's. That was fun. She gave us lots of heartfelt gifts for Christmas, and she is a wonderful lady.

Friday: CHRISTMAS!

Super busy day!

We did Christmas morning as a district, so I made breakfast for everyone. We opened presents together. Good times! We went home. Then had first dinner at the other Haws', then to the Ott's (in the Elder's ward, they gave us little presents from the kids), Skyped home, second dinner with the Williams, third dinner at the Marturello's (We had pupusas! Salvadoran food, really good). I feel like there was another one, but I forgot.

Saturday: We packed most of the day.

Sunday: Pretty good day!

Anyway, I hope you have a great week! We are moving today, so that should be... great! yeah...

It was so great to see all of you on Christmas! I truly am so blessed to have such a great family. Thank you for all of your generosity and love and prayers sent my way. I really appreciate everything you do for me!!!!

I am trying to attach pictures and/or a video, but we will see if it works. Have a great week! I love you!

Love,

Sister Inman

(scroll to the bottom to watch Sister Inman open her call on video!)