Answers to Prayers

Oh hey! So my name is Anneli Jasmine Bryant.  I am from Glendale, Arizona and I am currently living in Provo, Utah while attending Brigham Young University. I honestly don't know how to approach this post.  In my mind (like everything in my mind), this was going to be perfect and people would cry reading it because of its beauty, but honestly I'm just not quite that moving.  So I'll just be concise instead. So.
This is a blog about my journey towards a mission.
 But, just like every journey, mine has already had its fair share of trials. Lets just go backwards in time a little bit.
I graduated from high school in May 2012, and I immediately went to summer semester at BYU.  Getting to my dream university was such a miracle, and I am still so grateful for the opportunity.  When I got here, I was positive that I was going to be an academic rock star.  I was going to get super involved and have perfect grades and study and go to sleep at reasonable hours.  Well.  That didn't happen at all.  And here I am in Fall Semester, still failing to be that perfect student.  I was so positive that I was going to be able to figure out what my major should be and I was going to start working diligently on laying the proper foundation for my future.  When things didn't start playing out quite as I had anticipated, I honestly got very discouraged.  I was so confused on what I was supposed to do with my life, and I even started to give up.  So I prayed about it, pleading with my Heavenly Father to help reveal to me what I was supposed to do with my life. And then came the answer:

"Today, I am pleased to announce that able, worthy young women, who have the desire to serve, may be recommended for missionary service beginning at age nineteen instead of age twenty one."

-President Thomas S. Monson 

And there was my answer.  And it hit me like a ton of bricks.  I was going to serve a mission.

I immediately called and got an appointment with my Bishop, to try to figure things out.  After a meeting with him and more tender mercy from the Lord, things were made official, and I started working on my papers.
But of course, there have been so many obstacles that have come my way ever since I made the decision, and the biggest one is doubt.  Doubts of my worthiness, of my testimony, of my desire.  Did I really want to go on a mission? How could I afford it?  What if I am an awful missionary?  What if it is the wrong decision?  So of course, I prayed about it, and of course, the answer came again.
This time, in a much more subtle way.
I have been given the wonderful opportunity to be a part of BYU's Women's Chorus.  It is something that I look forward to every day.  This past week, we had a concert and one of the songs we sang was a beautiful version of Amazing Grace.  It was as I was performing this song that I knew that a mission is the right decision for me.  The words, "through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come. 'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far and Grace will lead me home" left my mouth with such conviction and then I realized it.  I have received so much grace from my Father in Heaven.  It is through the atonement of Jesus Christ that I am where I am today.  I am going on a mission not to waste time so I don't have to pick my major, not because I think it is expected of me, and definitely not because I am not married yet.  I am going on a mission to help others discover that they too can be brand new.  I am going on a mission to help people realize that they too can receive God's Grace through repentance.  I am going to share my story of conversion and help bring others to the light.  I am going on a mission because I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true.