THE BEGINNING

THE CALL

Dear Elder Odland: 

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Missouri Independence Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months. 

You Should report to the Mexico Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, August 5, 2015. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish Language.

On June 23, 2015, after patiently waiting for six weeks, I received and opened my mission call. I was definitely not expecting Missouri but I am thrilled to be serving there! Here is a video of the UNVEILING!

Here is a little information about me. My name is John Andreas Kjetil Odland and I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. I was born into the church and lived in Utah until I was 12. This is where the adventure begins. From here I moved to Maine with my parents, where I started 7th grade at a school where I only had 12 people in my class (and that class consisted of 3 different grades!). I attended school there for 6 months but returned to Utah for medical care, where I finished 7th and 8th grade. After the doctors found out that I have a Right Bundle Branch Block in my heart and after months of being monitored, I was given the green light to go back home. My Dad was serving in Afghanistan during this time, so my mom and I drove back to Maine and I applied to John Bapst Memorial High school. I was very happy to get accepted into this great school and I had four awesome years there, where I tried many new sports, met so many new people, and got to discover just a little bit more about who I am. In 2014 I became an Eagle scout. Then in 2015 I graduated with Honors from John Bapst. And At John Bapst I was one of three LDS students. That was hard to grasp for me because I had previously gone to school in Utah were there are a whole lot more Mormons. 

    

     Now as summer has arrived and my mission call has come, I am doing everything I can to prepare for my mission. I know It will be an awesome spiritual experience and a great opportunity for me to help many people and serve my Heavenly Father.