Mission Prep: the final countdown

Golly my, it takes A LOT of work to get a missionary ready to depart.  We started early on doing little things here and there.  Taz was NOT looking forward to the shots...flu and typhoid.  We went to Walgreens which was one of the few to provide the typhoid vaccine.  He just had to mosey on up to the window and the pharmacist did the rest.  He was super nervous and had to wait about 5 min. for her to get ready.  He was pacing and sighing.  Finally an elderly man asked him if he was going to cry, he said probably.  But he managed to NOT cry!

There is a lot of melancholy leading up to the days before an Elder leaves.  You can see it in them as they do little things.  You can see them thinking...this is the last time I'm going to witness or do this for two years.  Taz was melancholy and tried to take advantage of the little things.  He so enjoys Bentley and Bagherra and would just lie down next to them and watch them.  It made my heart sad for him when he was in these moods and I couldn't even imagine what he was thinking or feeling.

You have to buy sooo much stuff to get an elder ready to go.  Two wool suits,  slacks, 10 white shirts, a dozen or so ties, good walking shoes and the list goes on.  Taz was helpful with unpinning and unwrapping all those shirts. 

We started accumulating and just piled everything on the futon in the living room.   He had a shoulder bag, passport wallet, new scriptures, temple bag and clothes certain church books that he needed and the list goes on.

On an exciting note, he got his first real temple recommend, the one for his own endowments. 

I blogged about that earlier, but we managed to squeeze in a family temple trip to do baptisms.  We let Taz do the baptizing.  He did Garry and Cynjyn.  Garry had 21names and Cynjyn had 16.  That was cool.  Then he did the confirmations afterwards. Hopefully he'll have many more opportunities to baptize on his mission.

He had his old saxophone crew over for one last waffle brunch before one of their competitions.  He did this a lot last year.  He would have the section over and I'd make waffles and send them on their way to a competition.  This was a sad morning and all the girls were a little sad to say their final good byes. 

Taz spent a week or so making a present for Lyric.  He designed it himself and picked out pictures associated with a certain memory and then made the frame and attached the photos.  He wrote on the back of each photo the memory associated with it. It turned out lovey and was truly a gift from the heart. 

Sadly for him, the day came when he had to get one last hair cut...a missionary hair cut.

He was now official and the day was rapidly approaching when he would leave.

I packed him up and showed him how to pack efficiently for the plane ride to Korea.  We kept the scale close by to keep those cases under 50 pounds.

He got his oil and vial and consecrated it. 

The night before he left, he was set apart as an Elder by President Petterson.  These were taken right before we left for the church. 

They were preparing to hug good bye with out touching!

Everything was packed up and ready to go.  We were leaving at 5:30 am Wednesday October 12th.

After his setting apart, the boys came over for one last hang out..goodbye.  We had sundae's and good laughs and a few pictures. 

Taz slept most of the way.  That is what you do.  It's too surreal to talk a lot or think or process. 

We ate one last meal together at Outback.  It was freezing in there.  Taz went and got a jacket and put it under his suit he was so cold. 

We finished eating and went up to the MTC.  We were about 15 minutes early.  It was a good thing since we ended up at Wymount Terrace instead of the road to the MTC with a wrong turn.  But we back tracked and ended up in the temple parking lot just above the MTC.  We just parked and waited.  I wasn't saying much because I didn't want to cry and Taz was real nervous.  He was almost hyperventilating.  Then Garry got a call on his phone and it was Brother Van.  He asked to talk to Taz and told him  basically that a mission was going to be a good spiritual experience, but it didn't really matter if he didn't have fun, loosen up and enjoy it all.  That made Taz laugh and the tensions was broken and he relaxed a little.  Then we were off to the curb at the MTC.  Of course we were the first car in our line.  They have the curb broken into 9 I think parking spaces.  We were in number 1.  As we drove down the curb, it was filled with elders and sisters and they were clapping as we drove up, then they started cheering.  We were all laughing and Taz was a bit mortified.  He jokingly said I hate my life.  We stopped and an elder greeted him and helped him get his suitcases out of the trunk.  He then came to my window and said that we could get out and say our goodbyes.  (We heard that you were supposed to do that before dropping them off so we weren't planning on getting out of the car).  He said we had time for a quick hug and photo.  So we did just that and he was off...for two years...in the capable hands of the Lord, the MTC and good mission presidents. 

His life will never be the same after this day.  He will learn so much and grow so much in his testimony and the gospel.  He is willing giving his life to the Lord for two years.  A momma couldn't be any prouder!  Go forth with faith son, serve well and learn much.  See you in two!