I remember growing up my whole life I never had a desire to serve a mission. I thought it was kind of weird to serve a mission and had no plans on going. It wasn’t until my second semester in college when I felt like things needed to change. I was having the time of my life! I had switched rooms and was rooming with a bunch of my friends, and was doing really well in school as well. Even though life was going great I felt like something was wrong. I prayed about whether I needed to transfer to another school but no other school at that point of my life felt like a match. I reluctantly prayed about a mission. I really didn’t want to go on a mission but I decided I would pray about it and see what the Lord would tell me.
That next Sunday was fast Sunday. Almost everyone who bore their testimonies bore their testimony about how their mission changed their lives. I thought, "Wow! What a funny coincidence." I had told very few people about my idea of serving a mission and stake conference was next week. A few of my friends encouraged me to fast and that they would fast with me, to see if a mission was for me. I went to stake conference and the first session was speakers who had just gotten their calls and they spoke about their desire to serve. In my head I was thinking wow another coincidence when suddenly I got a text from a friend and it said, “Can you feel how much Heavenly Father loves you, that he has prepared the conference to confirm his answer for you going on a mission?” I read it and was like oh no I really need to consider this. The following week at church the talks were normal but the hymns were another sign. The intermediate hymn was Called to Serve and the closing song was I’ll Go
Where You Want Me to Go. After returning back to my dorm I prayed. I said "Okay, I have really not wanted to go on a mission but now I feel like I need to and that you want me to." I wanted to do what the Lord wanted me to do so I told Him that if I got one more confirmation that I would go.
The next Sunday I went to church and the last speaker didn’t show up. I thought this was great, end church early. But then my bishop got up and said, "Okay we can’t seem to find our last speaker so we will have a testimony from Lily Pita about how she knows Jesus Christ is a living God and the truthfulness of His gospel." As I got up the words flowed out of my mouth. Usually I am horrible at speaking on the spot but at this time I was not nervous or at a loss for what to say. After that experience I knew I had to serve a mission. I am not sure exactly why I need to go I just know that I need to go. I am excited to serve and so grateful for the opportunity that I have to go to Ventura, California.