Saying Goodbye

Wednesday, May 9th finally arrived.  Brayden woke up early and finished getting ready to go.  We had to be to the MTC at 1:10 p.m. so the younger kids went to school for part of the day.  Brayden spent the morning finishing his packing and then playing his guitar.  We will really miss hearing him play the guitar.

Around 10:00 a.m. Brayden and Brad loaded up the suburban with his suitcases and then we headed to the schools to check out the kids. 

We planned to go to JCW's for lunch, but nobody was quite hungry for lunch, so we just got shakes and french fries.  In the restaurant several people asked if Brayden was going on a mission and then wished him good luck. 

It was soon time to head over to Provo.  We planned to arrive a little early, so we could take some pictures in front of the MTC, spend some time at the Provo Temple and say our last good bye's.  It was really nice to be able to sit in the shade of the trees and talk one last time.

Around 12:55 p.m. we started to walk back to the car. We all hugged Brayden and said our goodbyes. There were many tears shed, but they were tears of joy. We loaded back into the suburban and drove across the street to the MTC. I read somewhere that every Wednesday an average of 100 cars pull up to the MTC curb every 15 minutes during the drop-off times. There were a steady stream of cars and lots of smiling Elders ready to greet all the new missionaries. As the Elder helped us unloaded all of Brayden's luggage, we each hugged Brayden one last time.

  

Then he was on his way.

I will never forget his smile as he turned to leave. 

Good luck Elder Mortensen. You will be a great missionary! 

See you in two years.