Well, we did it! Jeff and I took Garrett to Spokane, WA to leave for his mission to Guatemala! All four of our kids have chosen to serve the Lord through serving a mission. We are really proud of all of them in making this sacrifice in their lives, and I know that they have been/will be blessed for their service.
The other three all served missions in the States, and we drove them each down to Provo, UT to drop them off at the Prove Missionary Training Center (MTC). It has been a really nice tradition, and great time to spend with each child before they left for 18 - 24 months. But with Garrett, he was called to serve in Guatemala (which is exciting because his Grandpa Hughes served part of his mission in Guatemala in the late 50's) and report to the Guatemala MTC on January 10th. I knew the LDS church had multiple MTC's, but I had no idea that there were 15 MTC's around the world! It turns out that all missionaries called to serve in Central America go to the Guatemala MTC. There they learn how to be good missionaries, how to serve the people, and in the case of those coming from other areas (like Garrett), how to speak Spanish!
Since Garrett was going straight to Guatemala, instead of our normal tradition, we just had a 90 drive over to Spokane, WA and a 4:50pm flight to catch on January 9th. We left early and had lunch together, had good conversation in the truck, and then had about an hour together in the airport. There is something about dropping off your youngest that is just so much tougher than the rest! For one thing, there were no kids left at home to depend on us! We gave Garrett a last hug, and watched him go through security. It was hard to see him go and know that it will be two years before we see him again, but he is going to do awesome!
Garrett was excited to begin on this next venture in life, he is excited to get to know and serve the people of Guatemala. He is such a happy, good hearted young man and naturally reaches out to serve others, I know he is going to be a great missionary! He will love the people of Guatemala, and I know that they will love him too.
The other three all served missions in the States, and we drove them each down to Provo, UT to drop them off at the Prove Missionary Training Center (MTC). It has been a really nice tradition, and great time to spend with each child before they left for 18 - 24 months. But with Garrett, he was called to serve in Guatemala (which is exciting because his Grandpa Hughes served part of his mission in Guatemala in the late 50's) and report to the Guatemala MTC on January 10th. I knew the LDS church had multiple MTC's, but I had no idea that there were 15 MTC's around the world! It turns out that all missionaries called to serve in Central America go to the Guatemala MTC. There they learn how to be good missionaries, how to serve the people, and in the case of those coming from other areas (like Garrett), how to speak Spanish!
Since Garrett was going straight to Guatemala, instead of our normal tradition, we just had a 90 drive over to Spokane, WA and a 4:50pm flight to catch on January 9th. We left early and had lunch together, had good conversation in the truck, and then had about an hour together in the airport. There is something about dropping off your youngest that is just so much tougher than the rest! For one thing, there were no kids left at home to depend on us! We gave Garrett a last hug, and watched him go through security. It was hard to see him go and know that it will be two years before we see him again, but he is going to do awesome!
Garrett was excited to begin on this next venture in life, he is excited to get to know and serve the people of Guatemala. He is such a happy, good hearted young man and naturally reaches out to serve others, I know he is going to be a great missionary! He will love the people of Guatemala, and I know that they will love him too.