Five States All In One Mission

There are more than a few reasons I'm excited to serve in the Pennsylvania Philadelphia mission:
1) I think it's cool that I get to serve where my ancestors settled. They covered a huge chunk of my mission. WHAT!
2) My mom grew up in a town just a short car ride outside of my mission boundaries and I have a lot of family in the area. None of them are members. I told myself before I received my call that I would love to serve anywhere the Lord put me. I had no way of knowing I would be teaching the gospel in a place that is so close to my heart.
3) There is so much history in this mission! Not just my family history but also a lot of church history and our country's history as well. I definitely have the coolest mission EVER. But that's just my biased opinion. Please, nobody take offense. :)
4) A temple is going up in Philadelphia, styled after historic buildings like Independence Hall. How awesome is that?? It's scheduled to be finished in 2014. It might even be done before I finish my mission! If not, that's OK. I can always go back. :) It would be an amazing experience to do the work for some of my ancestors back East where they first settled.
5) My mission includes parts of 5 different states: Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and all of Delaware. I've visited Pennsylvania and Maryland before but I don't think I was in the areas my mission covers. Everything is new! There are so many places I could wind up!

Here are some awesome attractions just in Philadelphia:

I hope I get to eat one of these! A real-life Cheese Steak. :)

The Philadelphia Museum of Art. Art is so.. artsy. This is where the Rocky statue lives.

Independence Hall - where both the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution were signed. Ooooh.

The Liberty Bell!

The Penn Museum. It has nearly one million artifacts from all over the world! I've heard they have real mummies. :)

I like history. And I'm a nerd for museums.