You are hereby called to Serve...

It's a scene that is unique to Mormondom, the whole family including as many extended family members gather together in a living or rec room with eager anticipation. Seated at a place of honour is a worthy young man or young woman, holding a large white envelope with the return address: Office of the First Presidency.

Generally the routine is similar. The family members in the room take turns guessing where the future missionary will serve, while the missionary nervously turns the envelope over and over in his hands.

With the advances in technology, often family members who are far away are present through the use of Skype or other applications.

Finally the room grows silent as the missionary gingerly opens the envelope and removes the letter that will change his or her life forever. "Elder (or Sister) so and so, you are hereby called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You are assigned to labour in the _______ mission".

This is followed by cheers, and hugs and tears and quite often the request for a map.

I've been privileged to be present at a number of these occasions, sometimes in person and sometimes electronically. We are a missionary minded family and including our extended family and various in-laws, we have served in Italy, Montreal, Japan, Boston, Czech Republic, Brampton, England, Portland Oregon, New Mexico and South Africa.

But today was different, today it was my son in the hot seat, with that familiar envelope in his hands. Surrounding him was his family, some very close friends and via Skype, his sister in Idaho. And there were cheers and hugs and tears, and yes, a request for a map.

Jamie will serve in the West Indies mission. He enters the Provo MTC on August 27.

And in a super cool twist of fate, Jamie's cousin Devan, who was born the day after him also got his call today. He will be serving in Colombia, South Carolina. He enters the MTC one week after Jamie, so they will have some time together there.

For years our family got together for baby blessings, baptisms, priesthood ordinations etc. And now the missions begin. And in true Mormon style, we're still having baby blessings, thanks to Maranda and Matt!

Here is the video of Jamie opening his call...