United States Marine Corps

Well kids, since I didn't think joining the Marine Corps and then getting out didn't throw you for enough of a loop, I thought I'd throw another one right at ya. Some of you may already know my latest news since word seems to spread a million miles and hour with resources such as facebook, myspace, and your good 'ol fashion mouth to mouth gossip, but I wanted to write about my experience so maybe everyone will see that I'm not as crazy as it sounds the first time you hear about it. Yet again, Jared has joined the Marine Corps, and yes, is still serving a mission, and ships out in three weeks. I will ship to Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego on November 3rd and will begin my initial training in the Marine Corps. If all goes as planned, I will graduate boot camp as a Marine on January 30th(which is probably the coolest b-day present I could ask for) and will come home on boot leave for ten days and submit my mission papers, after which, I will go back to Camp Pendleton to the School Of Infantry(SOI) for 8 weeks of infantry training, where I will most likely get my mission call unless I get lucky and it comes during my ten days of boot leave. Doubtful to say the least. Upon returning from SOI I have to attend one weekend of drill and then can serve my mission.

Quoting Kate from facebook: "What! When did this happen? What changed your mind you crazy kid?" Let me esplain, no, it is too long, let me sum up, starting from the beginning. As you all know back in June I decided to get out of the Marine Corps and just go on my mission. A firmly stand by my decision and have never had a doubt since, that it was the right decision and that it was what the Lord wanted me to do. Keeping that in mind, with events of late; mainly the break up and my best friend John serving in Iraq, my feelings for the Marine Corps were very strong and overwhelming and the thought of having to wait until after my mission was very hard, although I stood by the decision, thinking it was what the Lord had in store for me.

About a week and a half ago I was thinking about the situation and it occured to me that I still had the option to go to boot camp and become a Marine before my mission. The spirit sparking my thoughts or me simply finding a way to get what I want? At the time I didn't know either and wasn't sure how to handle the situation. This happened Sunday night after conference and the next day I had to go to the recruiting office to pick up my eagle scout award from my last contract and while there, I asked my recruiter about my options. Everything fell into place as if it was what was supposed to happen. They had a mission reserve contract left, spots in the SLC infantry unit that I want to be stationed out of, and a spot to ship in November, and this is the best part, with another young man planning on serving a mission after boot camp and SOI also.

With everything falling into place as easily as it did and my recruiters being as supportive as they were(usually Marine recruiters aren't too gung ho about a recruit getting out and then asking to get back in), I felt like I strongly needed to consider this option but wanted some guidence. So I went home to Arimo to talk to the parentals about it and get a blessing from Dad. Lets just say that dropping a bomb like this on Mom and Dad went over not quite as good as I thought it would. That wasn't a good night for me. All the things that I thought felt right suddenly didn't and I started second guessing myself and the option didn't seem like an option without Mom and Dad's full support, which I now realize I always had, it just didn't feel like it at the time.

After a lot more prayer and consideration and a night of looking at a friend's mission pics, I decided against joining again and prayed about it that night(Tuesday). Surprisingly, at about 9:30 Wednesday morning SGT Larreau called me and asked if I was going to do it. Since I had made the decision not to join the night before I told him no, not really having got an anwer to my decision after praying about it. The rest of my week went by uneventfully but I couldn't seem to get the nagging thought out of my head. I kept trying to ignore it and get it to go away saying I've already made my decision and told SGT Larreau, I can't change my mind again.

Saturday rolled around and it was a totally different story. I finally let myself listen to what I thought might be the promptings of the spirit and started seriously and deeply considering the option again. After reading my scriptures and my patriarchal blessing time and time again I prayed about it and started feeling better about it, which was a good feeling I had felt since before I talked to Mom and Dad about it. The only way I can explain it is that I couldn't stop smiling at the idea cause it felt so right. I called Mom that night just to see what the weather was like back home since it had snowed here in Poky the night. I heard the last thing I expected. Mom had come around and was seeing the good things that could come of this and said that I had her and Dad's full support no matter what I did, and that they trusted that I would do what the Lord wanted me to, and they had faith enough to believe that what I chose was truly what the Lord had planned for me. I wanted to cry and jump for joy and shout to the world all at the same time. I knew right then that the incredible feeling I had from that support and her changed of heart gave me my answer.

Still a little skeptical to whether or not this was the spirit telling me what the Lord needs me to do or if it was just my personal feelings, I held off on a final decision. I decided I would ponder the question more and submit my final decision to the Lord Sunday morning. After waking up I felt more comfortable saying that kind of prayer and making such a huge decision in my dress clothes so I got ready for church and studied my scriptures a little more. I said my prayer and made my decision to join and opened a fast, praying that the Lord would give me some kind of affirmation to my decision. You know those promptings that people talk about getting that they need to get up and leave sacrament meeting and do something and you wonder why they try to ignore them for so long before they actually follow up on it? Well, now I know why people ignore them. The thought of leaving sacrament meeting to call my recruiter and tell him I wanted back in just seemed so wrong to me, but you can only ignore those feelings for so long. After a now ridiculous and hilarious internal struggle, I got up and left sacrament meeting and made the phone call and set up a meeting with SGT Larreau for this morning at 9:30. I still haven't figured out why the spirit might tell me to do such a thing, or if it was just my own desire to finalize what I knew was right, but it happened and the rest is history.

This morning I met with SGT Larreau and began my stack of paperwork for the second time in a short year and I am on my way to being a Marine. I've already gotten quite a bit of criticism for my decision to put my mission on hold for another six months and I know there will be more, but I know that this is what I'm supposed to be doing right now. Just as I firmly stand by my decision to get out in June, I will firmly stand by my belief that this is now my time to go; That whether the reason is that I'm supposed to go with this other young man who also has the goal to serve a mission, or if it will help me bring someone specific into the gospel on my mission, I know without a doubt in my heart that for whatever purpose, this is what the Lord needs me to do right now and that this is the next step in his plan for me. I've wondered myself if putting my mission of for another six months is the right thing to do, but I know that this experience will give me the self confidence I lack and will make me a better missionary, and as long as I'm doing what the Lord wants me to, time has no relevance in any matter.