Setting Apart September 30, 2010

It's a big job getting a missionary ready to go. We had clothes to buy, places to go, doctors to see.

We went to JC Penneys one day to get his shirts. As we were getting ready to check out and I had 10 white shirts tucked under my arm this couple approaches us, and says you must have a missionary going out. Now in Utah that is a given, but up here in Spokane that was really funny to hear since there aren't very many members up here.

Garrett found everything he needed, and had the money set aside for his needs. That in itself was blessing.

I really enjoyed being with Garrett to help him with finding everything, and really his leaving hadn't really sunk in until this day of being set apart. It affected us all because now we knew he would be leaving soon.

The blessing that Garrett received was so wonderful! The spirt was so strong, and our stake President, President Nichols is such a great man. After the blessing there were lots of tears especially from Gavin. Even though Gavin and Garrett argued constantly, he realized that he would miss Garrett terribly. Garrett was set apart almost 1 week early because we traveled to Boise to see his Grandparents and then on to Salt Lake City.

The Farewell Party!

The farewell went really well at the ward, but we did things just a bit different from the norm. We had a double farewell. There have been so many missionaries leave from our ward that there just wasn't enough Sundays to get them all done before they all needed to leave, so Adam Thurgood, and Garrett shared the 12th of September. It was a beautiful day! We couldn't have asked for better weather! Justine and Blaine came from Utah to enjoy the celebration with us. That was a long way for them to come, and it was so awesome to have them with us. Also Lew, Carol and Cari came over from Spokane.

As you can see in the pictures Garrett fully enjoyed himself. A lot of his friends came to the open house. We had it later that same day at the Thurgood household. Good food, good friends, and a great time. We will always remember that day.

Going to the Temple

Going to the temple is an awesome experience! One that I won't soon forget, even though I can't remember the date that we went. I believe it was sometime in August. It was very warm that day, and the sky was so blue. I remember telling the stake president that I wanted Garrett to go fairly early before his mission, so that we could attend with him often.

We had many join us that day, but the picture shows a family from our ward whose son was also entering the MTC the same day that Garrett did. Adam Thurgood was called to go to the Philippines. Also present were his parents. Daniel who is standing next to Adam is Garrett's best friend Daniel Stuart. He left about 3 weeks before Garrett on his way to Oklahoma. So awesome to have 3 missionaries going out together!

Called To Serve!

Oh my gosh, the letter took forever to reach us! Actually it was only about 2 1/2 weeks, but it about killed us waiting for it! Finally that day arrived and we couldn't hardly stand it! We waited until that evening to open it because we had close friends that we invited over to open it with us.

Elder Rook you have been called to serve in Buenos Aires West mission Argentina for a period of 2 years. (That wasn't the exact words), but you get the idea.

He received his call sometime in Aug, and entered the MTC October 6th. A lot of preparation went into getting him ready, and so that's why it has taken me so long to get this blog going.

Each day I will work on this until I get caught up. Enjoy reading!