Mission Call

After only ten days of submitting her papers, Rachel received her mission call.  Her bishop actually texted her to say he had been notified that she was assigned in just 5 short days. Whoa...things were happen quickly. Rachel was attending BYUI Spring semester when she received her mission envelope in the mail. Gathered in her apartment with her roommates, a few friends, Alec and we (mom, dad, and Amy) Face Timed her from California along with Grandma and Grandpa Hibler from Idaho, as she opened it. She was nervous with anticipation as she began to read her call. Rachel read, "You have been hereby called to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the America Georgia Mission." To all of us it sounded  a little weird. Never had any of us heard US missions stated quite like that. She continued with the letter reveling she would report on October 3rd to the Provo MTC. Then she read, "you will be prepared to preach the gospel in the Georgian language". Rachel stopped and said, "I thought they spoke English in Georgia". Steve got Rachel's attention over Face Time and said, "Rachel, honey, you need to reread your mission destination again".  So, once again she read her call. "OH! It says the ARMENIA/Georgia Mission. Dad where is that?" Steve replied, "below Russia Rachel". Squeals and gasps came from her apartment erupted. To say we were shocked and surprised, Rachel included, would be an understatement. In typical modern behavior, all of us were on our devices googling  information about the COUNTRY of Georgia, not the state.

Some things we learned about Georgia initially:

• Below Russia, above Iran, Armenia and Turkey, east of the Blacks sea, and west of Azerbaijan.
• They eat a lot of meat, bread, eggs and cheese.
• It's not as cold as we thought, the Caucasus mountains block all the cold air from Russia.
• It's is very old world, been described as something from The Fiddler on the Roof movie.
• People are simple and humble.
• It's the 7th cheapest country in the world.
• The Georgian language is only spoken in Georgia
• 1 of the 10 hardest languages to learn.
• It sounds like and looks like something from the Lord of The Rings movies. 
• ეს არის ის, რაც საქართველოს ჰგავს.
• About 350 members in the whole country. 
• Currently only 14 missionaries serving in the country.
• Birth place of wine making.
• Georgians call their country Skakartveolo, not Georgia. 
• My personal favorite, it is much safer country than people think.
• Georgia Mission opened in the year 1999, the year Rachel was born.