The Trip to the MTC

After two months of dragging Mike shopping to get all the necessary items for his mission, making sure that everything would fix in his suit cases and finally packing it all up, it was time for him to go.  Tuesday night Bishop Berry and our Stake President, President Fuller, came over to our house to set Mike apart as a missionary.  President Fuller set Mike apart and gave him a beautiful blessing.  After the blessing he gave him counsel and one rule that he was obey.  The counsel was to be obedient to the mission rules, work hard, and rely on the spirit.  The one rule was to write home every week.

Mike and his Dad

After being set apart Riley Salmon and Paige Hanny came over to say their final good-byes.  Dan, Lauralee, Aaron, Andrew and Matthew Page also came over.  This is the last time that Mike and Aaron will be together until Aaron comes home off his mission.  Both Mike and Aaron were emotional when it came time for Pages to leave.  They have been friends since they were two year old.  They have always been there for each other.  I believe it was hard for both of them to say good-bye.

Mike and his Mom

In keeping with missionary rules Mike turned over his ipod, ipod touch and cell phone to his mother and was in bed by 10:00.  After a restless night, Mike was up and dress early making sure that everything was in order for the long ride to Provo.  He seemed pretty calm and laid back but he said he was nervous and excited to get going.  I don't think that he ate a very big breakfast, too many butterflies flying around in his stomach.  We got everything packed in the car and headed out.  We left early enough, that if  we encounter bad weather we would still be there on time.  It was a much longer ride for Mike than he was use too.  No ipod to listen to, no games to play with on his ipod touch and no phone to text anybody.  So for about four hours he sat and stared out the window, read his scriptures and then stared out the window some more, getting more nervous the closer we came.

Getting out of the car at the MTC

When we arrived in Provo our first order of business was to make sure that we knew where the MTC was and how to get there.  We weren't suppose to drop Mike off until 1:15 so we had plenty of time to kill.  Since the temple was right there by the MTC we went and took some picture there.


We told Mike before we left Idaho Falls that we would take him to lunch anywhere that he wanted to go.  After taking pictures at the Temple we decided to go to lunch.  We ask Mike where he wanted to eat.  Mike didn't care where we went, he wasn't sure that he could even eat, he still having butterflies in his stomach.  Driving down the street we saw a Sizzler and decided that would be a good place to go.  Once inside and sitting down waiting for our delicious food to come, we notice that other people were there with their missionaries.  We visited with a few of them.  There was an atmosphere of excitement that came from each of the different families and there missionary.  The manager came over and visited with us for a few minutes.  It seems that a lot of families have lunch there before dropping off their missionary.  It was really nice to have a nice meal with Mike before we dropped him off.

Meeting and visiting with the welcome missionaries

Missionaries helping with the luggage

Mike beginning his journey

with the help of the welcome missionaries

To soon it came time to leave the restaurant and head to the MTC.  I would think that by this time the butterflies in Mike's stomach were going crazy.  We did not know for sure what to expect when we dropped him off at the curb, but were very impressed by how organized and smooth everything went.  When we turn onto the MTC grounds and went pass the gates, we were greeted by very happy and friendly traffic controller.  He gave us a number and told us to look for that number and that was were we were to park.   Pulling into our parking spot we notice some missionaries standing there by our number.  As we got out of the car they greeted us.  There were there to escort Mike into the building.  Mike's dad opened the trunk and the missionaries help us unload the suitcases.  They visited with Mike about where he was going on his mission and where he was from.  They were very friendly and in no hurry to drag Mike off.  It was really nice that they let us spend as much time as we needed to say our good-bye.  Giving Mike a big hug it was hard to let go. If I didn't know that this was the right thing for him to be doing at this time in his life I don't know that I could have let him go.  It was difficult to watch him walk away laughing and talking.  A lot of different emotion sweep over you.  I knew, watching him that everything would be alright.  He was were he belonged.  I'm proud of him and his desire to serve God.

So long Mike

An amazing site to see all the missionaries heading to the main door.