The MTC

Well, as if today hasn't been the most heart-wrenching day of my life, I don't know what has. There's nothing harder or more exciting than watching your little brother leave for two year to serve the Lord, knowing the next time you see him, he'll be a man.

Needless to say, we've all been emotional wrecks all day. Actually, in my case, it's been all week. For those of you who haven't had the experience yet, it's sooo hard. But, it's so exciting! (Let's be honest though, it takes a while for the excitement to kick in.) For me, I had to have a good cry, take a nap (and some Tylenol cause of the headache) and look forward to the first letter home!

After lots of comforting words from people who've done this before, I've found a few things have really helped so far. 1) Realize that he's only a few miles away. Especially where most of my time spent is at BYU, he's really only 1/4 mile away. By the time he leaves for Peru in 3 weeks, we'll be used to the idea and it won't be quite as hard. 2) We're entitled to random outbursts of emotional distress over the next two years. The fact is, we miss him and as much as we know he's making the right choice we're going to miss him, and that's ok. 3) I've resolved to write him every week. Even if I don't hear back from him that often, it will make me feel better to know that he'll always have a part of home every week. Especially where he's serving overseas and letters take longer to get there.

But I think the thing that has helped the most is looking forward to his first letter. I'm so excited to see how he grows, see pictures, and hear stories. That will be priceless...