I've already written several times about John's mission, and I'll definitely be talking about it more in the future, so the main purpose of this post is pictures! These are the pictures leading up to and including the start of John's mission to Denver Colorado South, which started on August 12th. He loved his time in the MTC, and he's been in Colorado since September 3rd. I'm happy to report that he seems to be doing quite well there. One month down, 23 more to go!
This was him giving his farewell talk, as Bishop Harris looks on. A friend took this screenshot because she was watching at home from Zoom and she sent this to me, which was so thoughtful.
Here he was with some of his remaining friends that day. His three best friends had all left on their missions, and he was the next one to go. Only Ashley, the girl on the far left, is a member of the Church (for now! 😉).
That evening, John was set apart as a missionary. It was a special blessing he was given, and it was a memorable experience.
These are the men who stood in the circle.
After the setting apart, John wanted me to take some pictures of him outside of the church.
He wanted to take a few more once we got home, too. I think he was planning his farewell-for-two-years post on Instagram, and he wanted the perfect picture for it.
I like this one because it reminds me of a young bird about to spread its wings and fly off into the world. It was a fitting analogy!
I think he used this picture in his Instagram post.
Classic!
This was his first day of home MTC, which he did for a week and enjoyed.
Some of his friends came over and visited and brought him food from Taco Bell during his week of home MTC. These are the shoes of his friends in the second picture up above.
Andrew and John probably won't see each other for three years because Andrew plans to leave for his mission in a year. Three years!
With Aunt Liz. She's always loved "Johnny."
John's departure day for Utah was Tuesday, August 20th. He, Sam, my parents, and I drove into Logan Airport in Boston that morning to see him off.
Hugging little bro one last time.
I like that the American flag is in this picture, since John is serving an American mission (the greatest nation on earth! Well, for now anyway. 😅).
💖 Our last family picture for awhile. 💖
I didn't get emotional until he walked away to go through security. Then it got real. 😥
One last picture, and right under the flag, too!
I watched him go through security until I couldn't see him anymore. This really is the last picture I took of him.
It was weird to leave the airport to go home without him, with him still there and off to the West for two years. It all felt a little surreal, like "Is this actually happening?" And fortunately, it was.
I was emotional for the rest of the day, but I've adjusted more quickly than I thought I would to him being gone and not being a quick phone call or a text away. I know that he's in the best place he could be, doing the best work he could be doing. And I'm so proud of him.
May God be with all of us until we meet again.
