Number 5 out of 6

My baby brother, Brother #4, received his mission call today. Woo Hoo!! We always guess where people are going. I'm 0 for 5. Every time I say,"JAPAN!!" I am wrong...every time. If my sister goes, I'm saying, "Japan!!" I gave her textbooks and fun things to play with to learn Kanji for Christmas/Her Birthday. This time, I'm hedging my bets way in advance. But, as she will most likely get married before I do, all this bet hedging might be in vain. (She's only been allowed to date for a year and she's been on more dates than all 5 of her siblings combined--and she's not allowed to go out with the same person twice. No way she makes it to 21 single.)

There are 6 children in my family and thus far all who have been of eligible age to serve have done so. I am the eldest and served in the Nevada Las Vegas Mission in 2002. Brother #1 served in the Mexico Mexico City South Mission, 2002-2004. Brother #2 served in Utah Provo Mission, 2004-2006. Brother #3 served in Uruguay Montevideo Mission, 2006-2008. Our Dad served in the California Fresno Mission, 1977-1979, where he met our fabulous Mom the last 2 weeks he served. (That's a story that I should tell you one day. Got married and never went on one date. Weren't even in the same state except for those 2 weeks.)

Brother #4 reports to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in September. The last time we had a missionary leave was 5 years ago this coming October. We had our grandmother's funeral and then a few days later Brother #3 reported to the MTC. This time we'll have Brother #1 and Sister-in-law A's wedding and then a few days later Brother #4 goes into the MTC. I like this scenario soooo much better. As long as no one asks me to get up and sing the second verse of "Families Can Be Together Forever" in front of a bunch of people at church, I shouldn't break down and bawl. In my defense, I was not the only one crying...just not for the same reason as everyone else. (I still say the second verse is an inappropriate choice for everyone to sing at a funeral.)

Would you like to know where he is going? Of course you do!

To all the wonderful people out there who read my blog--and there are a lot of you, in lots of different countries--drumroll, please!

And the winner is.....

Mexico Mexico City Northwest

But, if by some chance there was a mistake and he is going to Japan, I will let you know. You never know. It could happen. How else am I going to get to go to Japan in the next 2 years?