A Funny Thing happened on the way to the MTC...

Wednesday November 9th actually arrived. This morning Ryan was up and ready to go. :) Cary and I drove the others to school and Cary had to go into work for a little bit. I made some blue and white ribbon thing-a-ma-bobbers to put on his suitcases (easier to identify)...sounds like something a mom would do. :) Ryan spent some time playing the piano. I will miss hearing him play the piano. One of his favorite songs to play lately is the EFY medley As Sisters in Zion & We'll the Bring the World His Truth. Love it! He also snacked a little while sitting in front of our computer watching the screen saver of random family pictures through the years.

We checked the other children out of school early. Before we left our home Cary gave Ryan a father's blessing. I love having the blessing of the priesthood in my home. We then knelt for family prayer, and as we always do, we sang a song before offering the prayer. Today we sang I Hope They Call Me On A Mission. Then it was time to go....

We all went out to lunch at Cafe Rio. Ryan did request that one...and no one else objected. :) In the restaurant several people asked him if he was going on a mission. I'm sure people around here get used to seeing families like ours on Wednesday afternoons going out to lunch one more time together. :) Plus, it was a little obvious...Ryan in his dark suit and the rest of us in regular clothes. One of the guys preparing our food was talking to Ryan about how much he's going to love learning to speak Spanish...and the lady sitting at the table next to us asked where he was going, and when she found out it was to Buenos Aires North she said that her brother and her ex-husband both had served there, and her current husband served in Buenos Aires South!

It's amazing how quickly, yet also how slowly, time passes as you're waiting for that departure time. We were done with lunch quicker than expected, so we had plenty of time to drive to the MTC. When we got down there we drove past the MTC a couple times and saw all the cars pulling in....the missionary drop-off had begun. We then parked up by the Provo Temple to take family pictures.

Oh, did I mention what a BEAUTIFUL Fall day it was?!! It was a cooler day, but the warm, bright sun made it feel much warmer. Cary's sister and her husband met us there to help take pictures of our family (so nice of them) :). We took several pictures....you can view all the pictures in the slide show to the right.

Check-in time was 1:25, so about 1:10 we started walking back to the car. As we got to the car Cary reached for the keys, but they weren't in his pocket. He looked to me to see if I had them. I didn't, and I had left my purse in the car. Cary looked in the car window and there were the keys sitting on the console between the seats!!! We looked at each other like we couldn't believe this had just happened! We've never locked our keys in our car before! I thought to myself....we can walk across the street to the MTC....but all of Ryan's things were locked in the car! I quickly said a little prayer. I knew it would work out somehow. I called the Provo Police, but they told me they weren't authorized to help us with that. She suggested I call a tow truck company or a locksmith, or maybe even the MTC Security could help us out. At that moment a tow truck was pulling out of the temple parking lot across the street, so Cary's brother-in-law ran over to ask him...but he said he couldn't help us. Then I called the MTC. I explained what had happened and that we were supposed to be dropping off our son in a few minutes. A very kind woman told me that she'd send someone right up.

It really was a funny experience, just because of the time and place that it happened to us, especially because it has never happened to us before. :) Ryan wasn't laughing though. He wanted to get to the MTC. I knew he was already feeling anxious and emotional and by this time he was just ready to get there and get started. I told him he'd laugh about the whole thing later.

Within five minutes someone from security came to our rescue! And within 3-4 minutes he had our door opened.

After many thanks we loaded up and drove across the street, and got there by 1:33.

I'd heard that on average 100 cars pull up to the MTC curb every 15 minutes on Wednesdays during the drop-off times. And there was a steady stream of cars...and lots of smiling elders ready to help all the new missionaries. What a rush of emotion as we drove in! We each hugged Ryan one more time...

Then he was on his way....

I will never forget his big smile as he turned to wave one more time!!!!

He is my sweetie and I will miss him--I will miss talking to him and miss his texts just saying hello or telling me that he loves me. So now I can't wait to start getting his letters. (Plus, then you won't have to read my rambling posts, and you'll get to hear from him.)

I know Ryan is going to do his best to be the best missionary that he can be. He is very prepared, and also very ready to learn and to study hard to more fully understand the gospel and to learn the Spanish language. Ryan has a sweet spirit and a tender heart. He is a good teacher and he loves to serve. I know he will love the people of Argentina and bless many lives with the message he shares.

We love you Ryan! God be with you till we meet again...