Abbey with 3.1 kids to care for at home is something of the extraordinary. She keeps them busy by teaching, training, planning and feeding all three while keeping herself sane by talking with other moms. At the end of the each day she wonders why she keeps this up; because at the beginning of each morning she is reminded with the great smiles and kisses from all her kids: Zhao Kids.
With much anticipation where the week prior to Clayton receive his mission call, he was so nervous and excited that he couldn't sleep. (We sort of mislead him that he might get his mission call the previous week). So he waited and we waited. Da and Abbey kept checking from the missionary portal the progress of his mission call assignment.
But before we get to his calling, we will rewind a little. He has come a long way. During his Winter break from BYU, when he was home, he prepared himself toenter the Temple and receive his own endowment. Mom and dad taught him all the lessons to teach and prepare for the Temple and receive his own endowment. On the day of his endowment, Brennan and Cayleigh sacrificed their sleep, waking up very early in the morning to go to the Temple at 8:00am, and endured the 1.5 hours wait in the Temple lobby so we can a family photo after he comes out.
The next part was while Clayton was preparing his paperwork for his mission, he needed to have hiswisdom teeth extracted. The story of removing his wisdom teeth is another miracle itself: from insurance, to finding a oral surgeon, to having a friend available to help out, and a brother to watch over him is nothing short of the Lord's work.
After all the paperwork are submitted in late January, the wait begins. We knew the earliest is two weeks, so mom's been asking around. The week we thought Clayton might received his mission call, we jumped the gun during our family Sunday video chat on 2/23/25 and told him that he might receive his mission call on Tuesday. So he took it to heart and built so much excited to him for Tues 2/25/25, he text us in Discord at 3:43AM saying "can't sleep cause the anticipation for my mission call [with crying face]" But he did not receive any notifications on his email nor text message. Mom and dad checked the missionary portal throughout the week; no status update.
Then on Monday 3/3/25 at 4:45pm, "It happened"!!!
He got the text and email alert from the missionary portal,
"Dear Elder, Thank you for your desire to serve. You can view your mission call...."
He was ecstatic! He couldn't wait to open it!
Mom got the first update and mom said, "Whattttttttttt", followed by
Clayton saying "MISSION CALLLLL".
But because on Monday Da had to take Cayleigh for her PVYO, Clayton had to wait until we get home around 9:30 PM EST to open the letter with Brennan next to him and the three of us glued to the computer screen.
Clayton wanted to open the mission call with family first since he can't wait and don't have much time to coordinate to tell everyone since he has lots of homework and exams.
The anticipation was nerve wrecking.
So prior to Clayton reading this mission call. Da created a zoom session for Clayton to share his announce his mission call and also record the session. Da also placed his phone and put it on a tripod to record the three of us facing the laptop screen for Clayton's announcement.
Da asked everyone to guess where he's going: FF guessed England Mandarin speaking, Brennan guessed Canada Mandarin, Mom guessed Hong Kong Cantonese, and Da guesses Sydney Australia Mandarin.
As Clayton opened the email and started speaking, he was very tense with excitement and nervousness, mom was literally 'praying' while the rest of the family are sitting on the edge of our seats highly anticipating... Then it happened....
"...you are hereby called to labor in the Hong Kong Mission Cantonese speaking" !!!
Clayton screamed! mom screamed! and the rest of the family jumped clapping with super excitement!
After all the excitement finally calmed down. We started planning how he would announce it to all his friends at BYU, informed all our family, relatives, many many of our church friends all over the world, and members in our branch. The best timing was on the following Sunday evening.
So Da create a zoom session to send out to everyone, Abbey found a 'mission guessing game' website so everyone can input their guesses. Throughout the week, Da and Abbey has been sending out emails, text messages, Facebook messenger chat, and other ways to inform people of Clayton announcing his mission call. Clayton also sent the links to his friends too. Mom also ordered the Hong Kong flag so it will arrive on time for his Sunday's announcement. FF asked Clayton to hold up the flag!
Since our family already know, we are sworn to secrecy not to tell anyone.
(Click on any of images for larger view)
Above were the final guesses of where people think Clayton might get called to prior to him opening his call on Sunday night. We have 115 entries, a majority of the guesses were for Americas, Australia (where Da served in 1999), and Asian countries. Twenty three final guesses were for Hong Kong.
On Sunday 3/9/2025 Clayton announced it to the world.
There were about 55 zoom participants. Some zoom participants were with their families. Many of Clayton's high school friends joined the zoom call. Clayton also invited 22 people to see him open his mission call in person. So with rough numbers, there were probably more than 100 people that watched Clayton opened his mission call!
The next day mom also posted it on Facebook about Clayton going on a mission and when she was baptized in Hong Kong. Over 176 people expressed their excitement!
Below are the videos recorded from phone, zoom, and desktop screen record to cover all angles of his mission call.
The first two videos are when Clayton announced it just to our family. The last three videos are of Clayton announcing it to everyone. He waited an entire week to announce it to everyone.
(Da is very thankful Clayton's roommates were very nice to listen to him for the placement of the phone to record Clayton.)
FF has been practicing horn for a few years. She really likes Ms. Yeo and has helped her gained new skills as well as confidence to be better and also to try out for county auditions.
With the encouragement of her music teacher, Ms. Yeo and mom, FF coordinated with Elder Everette Allen to practice Mozart's Horn Concerto No. in Eb major Mvt. 1.
So on 3/1/25 they auditioned at the Parkland Middle School. We thought it was only 15 mins away but it was acctually 30 mins away, we were almost last. Thankfully Elder Allen knew it was further away and met us there.
After just a few short minutes to warm up in the cafeteria, they were called and led down the hallway.
After about 15 minutes, they were done. FF came out and smiles, laughs of nervousness. Apparently FF didn't read the music correctly and missed some notes. Elder Allen had a big smile in confirmation. Supposedly the judges gave immediate scores that can be checked on the website. However FF forgot to bring her phone because we rushed out the door.
The 30 mins drive home seemed longer than usual. She recalled all the mistakes and all the things that didn't go as planned from the many practices. Once we arrived home, she rushed to get her to find out the results.
She called mom immediately! (Mom was working on Saturday b/c it busy tax season)
"Mom! mom! moooom!! I got Superior!!! I can't believe it!" as she was jubilant! She was shocked!!
So that goes to say, practice helps a lot, even in the case when you mess up.
She has also been practicing a lot with Elder Allen.
Abbey with 3.1 kids to care for at home is something of the extraordinary. She keeps them busy by teaching, training, planning and feeding all three while keeping herself sane by talking with other moms. At the end of the each day she wonders why she keeps this up; because at the beginning of each morning she is reminded with the great smiles and kisses from all her kids: Zhao Kids.
