Missionary Farewell

 Jason had his missionary farewell in the Creekside Ward Sacrament Meeting on March 17, 2013.  Over 40 friends and family showed up to wish him well and then gathered after at our home to spend some more time with him before he leaves.  Jason isn't leaving until April 16 so this was kind of an early farewell for him but he has requested to attend "one last Cincinnati Reds game" before he leaves so we are taking him down to Phoenix for a Spring Training Game this weekend and after that, other missionaries have their farewells so we decided upon an early farewell.

This is Jason in the chapel after sacrament meeting, I think that might be a look of relief upon his face!  This was the first time I ever looked at him and thought, "Wow, he really DOES look like a missionary!"  Must be the Mr. Mac missionary suit, huh?  :)

This is the front cover of the Sacrament Meeting program and below is a copy of the talk he gave.  He did a GREAT job and had most of us in tears as he talked about his Grandpa's and how thankful he was for the atonement that will allow him to see them again.  For weeks before he spoke he said, "I just dont want to cry when I get up there" and he held it together until the very end when he spoke of his family and beat a hasty retreat from the podium forgetting to bear his testimony in order avoid a total meltdown.  But we all did the meltdown for him in the congregation.  He did a great job speaking though and we all were quite proud of him, of course!

Jason has 5 cousins (including two sets of twins) from Linda's side of the family that are all preparing to serve missions, two of which have been called to serve in Bogota, Columbia and Manchester, New Hampshire and the others will be submitting their papers soon.  In six months all these in the picture below will be out serving somewhere in the world (assuming they have room in the MTC's for them!) 

Temple Endowment

Jason received his endowments at the Mount Timpanogas Temple on March 2, 2013.  We had to be at the temple by 6:30 am so we were up early and out the door.  While it was early the temple was quiet and calm as we walked up to it as opposed to how busy it would be a few hours later with weddings, etc that are typical for a Saturday morning.  I was happy to have a few quiet moments with Jason in the car and walking up to the doors of temple before we entered.  I'm proud of the decision Jason has made to serve the Lord as a missionary and know he will be a great one...

Many family members attended with Jason including Kelly and her husband, JT along with Grandma Richardson and aunts and uncles on both sides of our family.  Thanks to all of them for making this event a special and memorable one for Jason. 

Only 42 days until he flies to Guatemala for six weeks in the Guatemala City Missionary Training Center.  We received his travel itinerary yesterday from the Church.  He leaves Salt Lake at 8 pm on April 16 with a flight to Los Angeles and then leaves Los Angeles around midnight for an overnight flight to Guatemala City.  He arrives there about 6 am and on to the MTC...sounds like an exhausting travel plan to me but I'm jealous for the experiences that await him...