And Off We Go!!

Our time at the MTC drew to a close all too quickly.  How grateful we are to have been able to spend time with family prior to going.  I personally was finding it more difficult than anticipated to say goodbye to my family.  Admittedly 18 months seemed like a long time to be away from those I love and my heart was definitely feeling it those last few weeks.  It was not the things I would miss....it was the people.  Family and Friends are such an integral part of our lives.  For that I will be forever grateful.  But leaving them behind....not such an easy task.  

Goodbye MTC...it has been so very good!!

Our last goodbye to this happy trio!

Such a sweet final visual for me.  My sisters reading to the Littles!!

A final farewell to my mom.  

A finer example of Christ like love I have never known.

And we are finally packed and ready to go.  

Here we come London!!

So this last photo only tells PART of the story.  We had a very tender mercy occur in May. Our nephew, John Connors who served many years ago in the Bristol mission was bringing his sweet wife Ashley back to the land he grew to love.  Thanks to their willing hearts we were able to send two 50 pound bags with them which they so kindly dropped off at the mission office in London.  Wow!!  That meant we were able to bring our favorite cooking pot, bread pans, favorite kitchen utensils, extra shoes, favorite shampoo etc etc etc.  Thank you John and Ash for this sweet gift.  We are truly enjoying the comforts of our own home!!

That photo also has another story to it.  As we were struggling to use our selfie stick to get our luggage, ourselves and the mountains all in the same picture a car driving by pulled over and the woman asked if she could take our picture for us...only in Provo would she know what we were doing...hehe.  We gladly accepted her offer only to find out that her best friend's granddaughter is serving her mission at the Hyde Park Chapel Visitors Center. We were reminded once again of how much the Lord knows and loves each and every one of us!!

My sister Sherry had been so kind as to let us use her car the entire month we were in Provo.  What a blessing that was for us as it enabled us to go back and forth to Farmington and to visit Joseph and Ana-Lisa in the evenings.  Libby and Sherry drove to the Salt Lake International Airport and waited with us until we took off. They were able to take the items we needed to remove from our suitcases to get down to our 50 pound limit...yikes!!  But it was all good and with the Lord's blessing we boarded that plane and headed to London leaving Salt Lake City about 6 pm and arriving at London Heathrow at 1 pm the next day.

It took more than an hour to get through customs but we were able to share our beliefs with the custom agent who checked us through.  A great start for these green missionaries!!

As we came through the gate there to greet us were Elder Gale from the mission office and Elder and Sister Hulet who are serving as the Directors of the Hyde Park Chapel Visitors Center.  Adrenaline kept us awake as we headed to the mission office and were welcomed by our Mission President and his wife, President and Sister Stevens.  What an amazing lovely warm couple they are!!  Absolutely perfect!!  They took us into their office and welcomed us with open arms and a cool drink of water.  We also were able to meet the Williams and the Gales, the mission office couples, who have been so good and kind to us as we have prepared to come here.  In case you were wondering....WE LOVE OUR MISSION!!!