Mikayla Kidd First Fulltime Missionary to Serve From Mokelumne River Ward

Mikayla is excited about her mission call to North Carolina Raleigh.

   Mokelumne River Ward has recently had two full time missionaries return (Colin Anderson and Jacob Meyers from Lodi Third Ward,) but Mikayla Kidd, daughter of Mark and Vickie Kidd, will be the first to leave from our ward.
   Mikayla had graduated from BYU-Idaho and was living in a Hawaii for a few months, having fun with a friend and completing some Internet courses she was taking to prep for a planned Master’s degree in speech therapy.  She had thought about serving a mission ever since her freshman year of college.  “It was always in the back of my mind,” she said. “I didn’t talk about it to friends or family.”
   While in Hawaii she began thinking about it and having regrets that she hadn’t already done it.  Then “The light switch went on!” she exclaimed. “I got really excited and wanted to go.  I knew that if I were feeling that way at the moment I was always going to feel that way.”  She remembered what her dad had once said in a casual discussion at home: “You will never regret going on a mission, but you will always regret NOT going.”
   Mikayla immediately talked to her bishop in Hawaii, found a local doctor and dentist to have checkups and get medical papers signed. She submitted her papers at the beginning of December, asking the bishop to not reveal the news to her parents. When she came home from Hawaii she thought, “I should probably tell my parents I’m going on a mission.” She decided to do it by giving her mom a Christmas gift list.  It started off with things such as skirts and blouses and progressed into things such as the Preach My Gospel book, garments, temple bag, etc. At that point Vickie got the idea.
   For some reason the formal call had gotten delayed a week and didn’t come until after Christmas.  When Mikayla opened it she and her parents all knew at the same time that she would be going to the North Carolina Raleigh Mission. Her parents told her that they were proud of her, that she was qualified, and would be a leader in the mission.
   These are Mikayla’s thoughts about her mission: “Because I’m older [almost 23] I’ve had more experiences, able to feel God’s love, and know what a difference the spirit can make.  I want to share that feeling with others. I want them to have a feeling of happiness and love in their hearts.”
   February 7 is her date to report to the MTC in Provo, Utah. Her mission president in North Carolina will be released in July and the new president will be Matthew S. Holland who is the son of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and is currently president of Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem.

Mikayla graduated from BYU-Idaho last year.  December 17 she took out her 

endowments in the Oakland Temple accompanied by her parents.