Setting Apart

Elder Gavarett, Presedinte & Sora Lundberg, Elder Perry, & Joshua

This afternoon, Scott and I were set apart for our mission. Scott was set apart as the President of the Romania Bucharest Mission, and I was set apart as a missionary in the same mission and as a companion to the president. Elder L. Tom Perry set Scott apart, while a new general authority, Elder Gavarett from Uraguay, set me apart. It was a wonderful experience and there was a sweet spirit in the room. The blessings were beautiful and brought comfort and excitement to us as we embark on this new journey. Elder Perry visited with each of our family members that were with us. He was also very cute with Joshua and gave Joshua the assignment to learn every missionary's name and to help his dad to learn them. Joshua promised to fulfill the assignment.

We all went out to dinner afterwards, for a final meal together. Scott's mom, his brother, David, and my parents were able to join us. We also had our Utah children and grandchildren with us, as well as Derek who came from Kansas. We missed the other out-of-state children and grandchildren who weren't able to be with us. Leaving our loved ones is the hard part of this otherwise exciting experience. In the blessing I was given this afternoon, I was told not to worry about those I leave behind in the United States. I was told that the Lord would care for them. That was a great comfort to me.

Scott and I leave tomorrow for the MTC. We will be there until Wednesday, return home to sleep that night, and fly out Thursday morning for Germany. We will have meetings there on Saturday, then fly to Bucharest on Sunday.