Kylie's Classified Missionary GF Survival Guide

February 16, 2016 I had to say goodbye to my very best friend for two years. Elder Carson Davis was called to serve an LDS mission in Chesapeake, Virginia and man did it break my heart to see  him leave. It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I sobbed like a dang newborn baby and like a newborn I cried myself to sleep....for about a month. So embarrassing, I never do that anymore (wink wink, nod nod ((hopefully some will get the reference lol)). But really, IT SUCKED. The first few months were killer. I wrote in a journal everyday after he left and going back and reading them I just think, Awe past Kylie you need a hug and a tub of ice cream :( Everyday was so slow, making weeks/months even slower!! We would write ridiculously long letters every single week and I'd send him huge packages like for spring or random occasions like that lol. I was so sad that my boy was gone that it was literally all I thought about and I thought it would never get easier. 

Now that I've said that, I must be honest; it doesn't really get easier especially if they really are your best friend. It is really lonely and I miss him more than ever after being a year in. But the thing is, we've made it a year in!! It's definitely not a coincidence that I still love my guy and he loves me like crazy; it's because we are committed to each other! Now this doesn't mean that he isn't committed to the work, because he totally is, it is his absolute number one priority. The fact is that we both know what we want and know what we have to do to get there is what keeps us going, and this mission, being patient and waiting, is all part of that!! I can honestly say that we both are more in love than ever, one email day a week and all;)

How have we done it? Well there are a few little things we have done that have helped  us immensely...

• Letters/Packages
• Recorder
• Google Drive 
• God****

These four "tools" have been a crazy help this past year to keep in touch with one another and for our relationship to still grow stronger! I don't know how else we could have done it. Lemme tell ya'll a little bit about each of them and how they personally helped me and my missionary. 

Letters/Packages

The classic Missionary to Home contact via post offices. All the mail room employees know me and my missionary by name because of the mass amount of time (and money) I spend there. This is one of the funnest part of the mission really! Getting a letter or a little package in the mail can make you or your missionaries whole week. Like I already said, at first our letters were dang long, I'm talking 6 pages front and back every single week long. But I mean come on who could blame us! We were having major constant communication withdrawals lol. During the short time that Carson was in the MTC, I would not only hand write letters but send a little letter through dearelder.com everyday. I would HIGHLY recommend this to every missionary gf, especially if your missionary is in the MTC for a long time. This site is so sweet let me tell you. You can really hook your boy up. So in the MTC missionaries can only pick up mail once a week if it's just sent through the post office. With Dear Elder, they print your letter you type up that day and deliver it to your missionary at 12pm. So. Dang. Nice. Not only do they have that, but also little gift/care packages you can buy that they will also deliver to them. Again, highly recommend. It's quite the set up.

Once they're in the field they will get your mail right when it's delivered, at least where Carson is serving it's like this and I assume it's similar in State Side missions. The biggest bummer is shipping costs. Lame, but well worth it when you get a super cute email about how happy it made them. Letters are great because they really aren't super expensive to mail and you can write one anytime about anything which is awesome! Opinions on what to write your missionary understandably differ, so it's really between you and your missionary and what you feel you want/need to talk about. Now Carson and I have been best friends for almost three years now, so we tell each other basically everything; good things, bad things, weird random things, everything! They were lengthier at the beginning before we got our recorder, but now they're usually just a small/sweet little thing. Still just as great. 

Packages are seriously a treat. I love putting them together and I'm totally that girl who decorates the inside of the box lol. I've sent Carson lots of different types of packages. I've sent one for Easter, his birthday, Christmas, and little random ones in between just to pick him up a little. I've been asked by a lot of girls what are good things to put in packages, and again this really is by discretion. Things that I have gotten Carson that he's really enjoyed in the past are ties (his fav are Dazi look them up), t-shirts/sweaters, food gift cards, his favorite body wash+lotion, candy, pictures, and other little fun/goofy things (example mini star wars figurines bc we're big nerds). I even was able to order him and his companion pizza for dinner one P-Day because there was a Domino's near by. Carson is also very thoughtful in little packages he sends me. Many consist of little things investigators/members have made or given Carson. Little things like that often mean the most. 

Recorder

There is something about actually hearing your missionaries voice that can't be replaced by anything else. That's why the recorder is so dang sweet. Before Carson left, he surprised be with a recorder with tons of recordings he did for me without me knowing so that when he was gone I could go to it and listen to what ever I needed. This boy freaking organized each folder into different categories and everything, so dang cute. When he got to his first area I sent him a recorder that I made, that way we'd both have one. Carson then came up with a genius idea to get a recorder for both of us to 'share'. He had two folders and I had two folders to record on. We'd take turns having the recorder to record and listen to the others recordings and send it back and forth. We still do this and it's my favorite. The recordings we do will just be us sometimes, or with friends/companions/family. It really helps us stay really in touch with each others lives better. Some might think no way am i getting one of those i would just be awkward or cry the whole time. You're not wrong. It was awkward for me at first because, hello you're talking into this little weird box, but you get used to it and end up just talking like you're talking to your missionary, because in a long distance/time way you are! And for the crying thing, there are definitely some sad recordings. The thing about those is that you know the other person truly understands what you're going through and it lets one another know that they truly are loved and thought about still and that the feelings are not just one sided. And man do tender recordings like that from my boy pull at my heart strings, I sure do love him :') (and it's funny to send pointless things lying around the house in the recorder package as well....at least we think its funny....we are pretty weird though;)

Google Drive

MY FAVORITE THING OF OUR NEW TECHNOLOGICAL WORLD. So dang great I can't really express how much I love it. So in the summer of 2016 I made a new gmail account just for a new drive that just Carson and I could have access too. We made two folders labeled 'For Carson' & 'For Kylie'. This was so clutch because we could upload pictures/quotes/talks throughout the week and the other person could always have immediate access to them. If your missionary is at the computer lab during the week or are in an internet mission, they can't email except on P-Days, but they can upload on drive! Recently our friend gave us the ideas to do little videos for one another and that has been a super great to not only hear but see my missionary once a week or so. If you don't feel like making a completely new account, it's super easy to share folders and files with one another on the drive too! #BLESSED

God

The last, but definitely not the least thing that has helped us the most is our Heavenly Father. Being a missionary, one is literally becoming closer to the Lord every single day. Day in and day out that is who they are focused on. Knowing this I was worried that I would fall behind Carson on a spiritual level and wouldn't be ready for him to come home in two years. I didn't want that to happen, so I over the past year I have very consciously been building my own relationship with my Heavenly Father. He has been my rock through this journey, and I have tried to continuously build myself spiritually a little bit everyday. Something that has helped me do this is getting myself in a habit of daily scripture reading whether it be four chapters or one verse. Making this effort really helps your mood for the coming day. I've also enjoyed finding podcasts or talks to listen to while traveling or even just falling asleep; even though it's just a little thing it really does bring the spirit. When I'm feeling really down and don't know how I can go any longer I always find peace from prayer with God. #SUPERBLESSED

Waiting for a missionary is dang hard, but so worth it. It has been amazing to see Carson grow over the course of 12 months, and I know that he is becoming a better man from it. All the highs and the lows over the course of a year have made us better and more appreciative of one another (like having them cook Ramon for you....little did I know). Having these few things have helped us both so much when it's been hard. I'm so thankful for the blessings we have both received and will receive in the future from this. One year down, one to go WOOOOOO!!!!!!!