My first Missionary Nephew...

I can't believe that my nephew Danny is old enough to go on his mission. It seems like just yesterday that we drove to California to see Scott and Becky and their new baby boy Danny. Man how time flies. I can't think of another young man more prepared then Danny for his mission. What a great example to my kids. Danny had the opportunity to go to a semester of school before he left and he was able to share the gospel with a girl up there and he got to baptize her! What an amazing experience! You would think it wouldn't be too hard for me to say goodbye to him since I only see him once or twice a year anyway, but as I called him to say goodbye I got really choked up! Luke did too. When I pointed out that we only see him once a year anyway he said "I am going to miss seeing him those 2 times!".

Here is what my brother Scott wrote about their experience when they dropped him off...

Well . . . we dropped off Danny yesterday at the MTC . . . which was kind of hard . . . wow . . . am I really this old ? It went pretty well. We got up there around 11:30, went in the parking lot across the street to take pictures (as they don't let you pull in to do that), luckily a jogger was going by and offered to take one for us. We then loaded back up and went out to eat lunch. Danny didn't want to do a sit down place, so we got Jimmy John's. We then made a quick stop at Shopko to try and buy a fingernail clipper set and suitcase tags, and then said our long hug and kiss goodbye's in the parking lot of Shopko. We then loaded up and headed for the MTC. As soon as we pulled in to the main entrance, we were signaled over to the line up of cars along the whole front curb of the MTC. There were probably 40 parking pull outs or pull overs - end to end, and we took our place there. As soon as we parked two missionaries with "Host" badges greeted us and invited us all to get out. We popped the trunk, pulled out his bags, and they encouraged us all to give him one more hug. Then one elder said - hey give your mom one more hug - she looks like she needs another one. So he did, and then off he went. Little Karissa took it the hardest - probably crying the hardest for a while, followed by Dallen. But don't let me kid you all, we all had some tears to shed. We ended up going over to the Carl Bloch exhibit, and then headed back to St. George. We got home around 7:30 pm, and then about 8:00 pm Danny's good friend (and the leading candidate amongst all the family members of our choice to be his future #1 woman) came by with a package that she helped Danny put together for our family. It contained a personal card for each member of our family from Danny, a candy bar that matched a clever phrase that each card contained, with a picture of Danny and each sibbling - with him and just them. As Karissa started to read her letter, the floodgates opened back up again and here came the tears again. So there you have it . . . that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I was so touched at the thoughtful thing that he did for each member of his family! I tried to subtly drop the hint to Luke to do something similar when he leaves in 10 years :) I hope he remembers :)

Danny is going to the Washington D.C. mission, French speaking. I think this is so neat because my dad went to Washington D.C.! I look forward to hearing all about Danny's adventures!