Found this draft piece unpublished, today, April 21, 2024! Yes, I was in an interview with Bishop Naumann and he off handedly asked if I ever thought of going on a mission. I told him that if he 'saw' that for me, I must need to go. He told me to pray about it for myself...I was recently divorced in between jobs, and everything was right for it to happen. "You probably would like to go to Hawaii? Right?". "Well, no, I was kinda thinking Spanish speaking, Macchu Picchu!"
Later, after putting in my application, Stake President Anderson told me that his comment on my application was that I'm adventurous!! Whaat? I don't wanna be sent to Africa!! But the call came that I was to go to the Missouri, Independence Mission. I was to live in the small town of Hiawatha, in Kansas, which was a part of that mission. A few months later the mission was split, and the Kansas, Wichita Mission was formed. I didn't need to move from Hiawatha. And the rest is history.