Nampa, Idaho

We had a missionary farewell in our ward last week.  Sam Riddle has been called to the Nampa, Idaho mission.  His farewell was really good! I don't know Sam at all, but I worked with his dad when he served as the Young Mens' President.  He is now our High Counselor.  Plus, he is hilarious.  Anyway, back to Sam's farewell.  (This was told last week and I didn't take notes.  I might have gotten some of the minor details wrong, but the spirit of what he was saying will be correct.)  He talked about how excited he was to go on a mission.  He started his papers a LONG time ago.  (Well, long in the mind of a teenager.)  During one of his interviews he was told by his bishop that he felt like now was not the time for him to go on his mission.  He needed to wait.  Sam talked about being very frustrated, disappointed and confused.  Months later he was able to put his papers in only to be told that he had a medical problem he needed to take care of.  After that was resolved he was finally able to successfully turn in his mission papers.  When he opened the call he discovered he would be going to Nampa, Idaho.  He immediately knew this is where he should be going.  The Nampa Idaho mission had just been created.  All of his confusion about this process immediately melted away.  How cool is that?  Sam did a great job with the rest of his talk.  He is going to be an amazing missionary!