MTC, Ready or Not

Jordan was lucky to have his farewell 10 days before he left.  Most missionaries speak in church on Sunday and leave 3 days later.  We had the majority of the shopping and packing done.  All that was left were last minute items.

Two suitcases and a backpack for two whole years.  Hard to imagine it, isn't it?  Fortunately, he is going to a city where he can get just about anything.  In reality, what he is packing is for his stay at the MTC.  (Missionary Training Center)

He is scheduled to arrive at the MTC for 12:30 PM, so we drive to Provo a little early for some pictures near the Provo temple.

Arriving in Provo, I had forgotten how majestic the mountains are when I attended college in this area.  It's good to be reminded that Jordan will be surrounded by such beauty.

The first picture?  Of course, it had to be Jordan's idea.  What a feeling!

Ready or not, it was time to drive across the street to the MTC.

A missionary, who happened to be also going to Korea, was on hand to assist Jordan with ALL of his luggage.

Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye.

A quick hug and an "I love you" ...

... and he was gone.

The Night Before...

Grandpa Dave & Jordan

The night before Jordan left for the MTC, family members met with Stake President Morgan and Bishop Hulme to set Jordan apart as a missionary.  When church members are assigned a calling and it is accepted, they are "set apart" for that calling.  Jordan accepted a call from the prophet, Thomas S. Monson to serve an LDS mission, therefore, he was set apart.  The setting apart makes the call official.

After everyone arrived, we were escorted into a large room.  President Morgan welcomed everyone and had Jordan introduce all the family members, one by one.  President Morgan asked me to share my feelings about Jordan serving.  I said that he was born ready to serve and that I was excited for him.  He turned to Jordan's dad and asked him of his feelings.  Dad said that he was very proud of Jordan and that he would be an excellent missionary.

Dad, Jordan & Mom

Then President Morgan, Bishop Hulme and Brad laid their hands upon Jordan's head and through the priesthood power,  gave him a blessing and "setting apart."  In this blessing, Jordan was told that he was loved by his Heavenly Father and that He was proud of his decision to serve a mission.  Jordan was blessed with safety and good health.  He was reminded to use patience while being a missionary.

After the blessing, Jordan stood up and gave his dad a big hug.  He then shook hands with the Stake President and Bishop Hulme.  Then he gave mom a hug and I told him how proud I was of him.

The Stake President then gave us the room to visit family. 

Spencer & Elisse will be having their first child in two months; Jordan's 2nd nephew to arrive in our family.  Phil and Katie made special arrangements away from their gift shop to attend.

Bonnie, Jaren, Dallin and Laken (Gary was at home) will soon have a new missionary in their family.  Jaren plans to turn in his papers in a couple of weeks.

Lloyd & his daughter Emma came to share their love and support.  Lloyd brought his camera and captured these photos you see here.

Grandpa Dave is recovering from hip surgery and made the painful journey to see Jordan at this special occasion. 

Grandma & Grandpa Shell also made the effort to come, in spite of physical limitations.  They wouldn't have missed this for anything!

This was the night that everything became a reality.  The Spirit was very strong and emotions were very close to the surface.  We appreciated all those who made it to Jordan's setting apart.

He will be an awesome missionary!!

The Farewell

Our cute and talented neighbor made this shirt cake for Jordan.  It was on display at the gathering after church.

Jordan gave a wonderful talk on the power of scriptures.  He was lucky to be able to speak in two wards: the ward we are currently in and in the ward we were in previously for three formative years.

Since friends and family were coming at 10:30, we decided on a brunch menu.  Jordan's favorite Breakfast Casserole, topped with maple bacon, Homemade Grape Juice, orange juice, apple juice, assorted muffins from Costco, sliced oranges and red grapes.  I happened to have dough leftover from teaching a bread class the day before and served Italian bread with our homemade Mixed Fruit Jelly.

U of U friends

High School friends

Neighborhood friends

Thanks to everyone who came to support Jordan ~ we love you!

Mission Pictures

Once Jordan picked up his suits (yes two of them), it was time to take some pictures.  We drove over to the Draper Park and ended up taking almost 100 pictures. To see larger versions of these pictures, simply click on the picture.

The park has a couple of bridges, one of which is a covered bridge, similar to bridges you would find back East.

The bridge lighting was dark and Jordan was getting a little warm under his winter coat.

 

He kept asking me what to do ~ how to pose.  I have a decent camera, but I am ashamed to say that I take more pictures of food than I do of people.  

We moved further down to the middle of the park, next to another bridge.  Jordan LOVES wearing sunglasses and has quite the collection...

This same bridge, looking from another direction, proved to have the perfect shade and lighting for some great pictures.

 

Jordan suggested walking a little further and getting this amazing background...

Seriously, this kid NEVER takes a bad picture!

The shade of the tree provided some fun close ups, all Jordan's ideas...

Alma Ch. 36 English and Korean Book of Mormon

He loves wearing his CTR ring and wanted a picture of it.

It was a fun hour or so...thank you, Jordan, for asking me to take your missionary photos!

Love,

Mom

Kirtland, Ohio

Part of a day was spent driving to Kirtland, Ohio.
The N. K. Whitney Store is part of the L.D.S. visitor center grounds.



Checkers, anyone?

This room was used to train members who were preparing to serve missions.  Here they would smoke and chew tobacco.  The Prophet Joseph Smith went into the next room and there he received the revelation about the Word of Wisdom.

Another stop was to visit the Kirtland temple (now owned by the Community of Christ church).  Photos were not permitted inside, but we took an architectural tour of the inside.  So many amazing things happened here, but the tour guide did not talk about them.  He chose instead to talk about the design and purposes of this temple.

The temple was smaller than we thought it would be, but we are sure it fulfilled all the purposes needed for the saints at the time.

At the dedication of the temple in 1836 there were visions of the Celestial Kingdom and visits by Moses, Elias, Elijah and Christ.

On the way home to the airport, Jordan, Brad and Frieda attended a session at the Columbus Temple, located just minutes from the airport.

Visiting Family

With Oliver, at 8 months

One of the things Jordan wanted to do before he left on his mission was visit all of his family members.  His brother, Zach, lives in Ohio with Niki and baby Oliver.

One of the first items of business was to assemble a rocking motorcyle that Brad made for Oliver as an early Christmas gift.

 
Although he is a little small, it is evident that Oliver and his dad LOVE it!  Thanks to Great Grandpa Shell's neighbor, the motorcycle is personalized with his name OLIVER in the logo.

Jordan spent many of Oliver's waking moments playing with him.  "Can I spoil him?" Jordan asked. 

Of course.  That's what uncles are for!

He couldn't resist riding the motorcycle himself...

 

We all enjoyed spending time with Niki and her family...

Niki's mom, Ruth and her friend, Don

Niki's future SIL with Jax and cousin

Saying "goodbye" is always hard.  Ollie will change SO much in two short years!

Getting Ready!

One of the things that Jordan needed to do for his mission papers was to get his blood type.  We were pretty sure that he was A+ just like mom and dad, but a Stake Blood Drive was the perfect place to type his blood and donate.

The experience left him with a severely bruised arm from his bicep to his forearm for more than two weeks.  No fun!


Major shopping needed to be done and shoes were on the top of the list.

As Jordan will be taking his shoes on/off multiple times during the day, slip-on shoes were highly recommended.

He settled on Ecco shoes at a pricey $200.  Luckily, he found another pair, last year's model, on sale for $149.  These shoes should hopefully last most of his mission!

Getting ready also meant saying "good-bye" to some of his most valuable possessions.

The beloved 1992 Geo Prism, which we have had for 18 years (most of Jordan's life!) was sold on August 20th to a sister of one of his friends.  Even though he was not leaving for his mission until October 31, it was easier to sell to someone who needed a car before school started.

Getting ready also meant receiving his endowments at the Draper Temple.  August 23rd, we attended the Draper temple with family for a special event.

 

We are very proud of Jordan and his decision to go to the temple and serve a mission.  He will be a phenomenal missionary!