Kyle enters the MTC

Well, we had Kyle’s Farewell.  I know you aren’t supposed to call it that anymore but the the option “Last talk in Church before going into the MTC” just doesn’t do it for me.  Kyle gave a wonderful talk.  I was surprised because he really didn’t start preparing for it until Saturday evening.  Different friends of his stopped by the house during the evening interrupting his preparation.  He will learn to prepare early while on his mission.

Some of Kyle’s friends at our little lunch in the back yard after church.

Kyle's friends

Afterwords we were all tired.

But we made it through.

Wednesday September 28th.  That is the day we have been waiting for.  It was four and a half months ago that Kyle got his call.  Now his date has finally arrived.

We took a few pictures around the house.

We drove down to Provo and had lunch at The Brick Oven.  We thought we had an original idea.  Turns out there were three or four other missionaries doing the same thing.  One sitting near us we even going to Argentina as well though to a different mission.  Good luck Elder Hancock from Gilbert Arizona.

We then drove over to the Provo Temple, took the obligatory picture in the front and a couple more.

Then came the hard part.  We drove towards the MTC which is an easy walk from the Temple westward.  We took more shots of Kyle in front.

Then drove over to the MTC.

They have Elders right at the curb to help the new missionaries with their luggage.  We had everything in the bed of the truck.

By the time we were out of our seats, the assisting “Host” Elder had Kyle’s backpack on and half the luggage unloaded.

 

We quickly said our goodbyes for two whole years and then Kyle turned and walked towards his home for the next two months,

 

 

 

 

 

and walks,

 

 

 

 

 

 

until he slowly disappears.

 

 

 

Things are moving quickly now

These last few months have seemed to drag slowly as we have prepared to send Kyle on his mission.  He is anxious to get out in the field and though we will miss him terribly, we too have been waiting with anticipation for the day Kyle will enter the MTC.  We have received emails from the Church telling us the schedule for dropping Kyle off at the MTC and they make it clear, once he enters the gates of the MTC, he is on his mission.  We will need to be quick on the drop off.  No lingering good-byes.  All of a sudden everything seems to be moving so much more quickly now.

We have had family pictures taken and we have had missionary pictures taken.  I am including a bit of both.

We had our pictures taken by Lindsay Hagblom up at Memory Grove.  We had the studio pictures taken at a local Target.

Stay tuned, I will soon be posting information on sending mail, emails and packages to Kyle while he is in the MTC.

The Jordan River Temple

We had thought we would wait until closer to time for Kyle to leave on his mission before going to the temple however a friend at work recommended we go as quickly as possible. It didn’t take much to see the logic of that so we did.

What a great day June 4th, 2011 was.  I was as close to a total blubbering wreck as I have ever been, escorting Kyle on his first time through the Jordan River Temple.

Kyle and a couple of proud parents.

Our new blog of Kyle Hudgins’ mission

We started this blog to document Kyle’s mission.  To do that I need to go back in time a bit to the day Kyle received his mission call.  It was May 18th, 2011.  We pretty much knew the day it would be and were prepared when the mailman arrived.  He had to know we were waiting because as he drove into view, he had his hand sticking out of his truck with that big white envelope waving as he came to our house.

That evening, we had friends and family join us as Kyle opened his call,

“Dear Elder Hudgins:

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Argentina Neuquén Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months.

You should report to the Provo Missionary Training Center on Wednesday, September 28, 2011. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language.”

Boy are we all excited. Although we will miss Kyle, we can’t wait for him to be able to experience This Missionary Life.