July 8th: Into the MTC!

Well, we dropped Mike off at the MTC today! We walked over from the Wymount apartment where Trevor and I live. It was hot in the sun, cool in the shade. Mike was so excited to go--the type of jittery, talkative excitement and nervousness that Mike tends to get when he wants to keep his mind busy enough that he can't think about the fact that he's actually leaving.

That morning, we all went to IHOP for breakfast, where we ran into another missionary who was on his way to the MTC, also to go to the Boise, Idaho mission! Later, we stopped by Supercuts to get Mike his "official" missionary haircut! After a quick shower, we were off to the MTC. We got there and took the ever-so-popular picture in front of the sign:The lady we asked to take the picture happened to be the mom of ANOTHER missionary who was on his way to the Boise, Idaho mission! And, to make the world even smaller, this family knew the Hernandez family that just moved into my parents' ward back in NC! The Hernandez's told my parents to look out for this family and VOILA! There they were, right at the MTC! :)

So, we did a lot of picture taking and a lot of hugging. We found out since we didn't drive over that we couldn't go past the outer wall, so that's where we said goodbye! We were all a bit weepy for a minute, but just remembering how wonderful it is that Mike is doing such an honorable thing helped us stop crying and bring back the smiles.

We sure love our missionary: Elder Hopkins! He will be in the MTC (Missionary Training Center) for approximately 3 weeks here in Provo as he learns how to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. After that, he will fly to Boise for the remainder of the two years!

I look forward to posting his letters and updates on this blog! So check in often! Also, I will post his MTC mailing address (for letters and packages) as soon as I find out what it is!

What a fantastic Wednesday!