Final Preparations for Andrew's Mission

August 4, Sunday

I've been so busy that I haven't been dwelling on the fact that Andrew is about to leave. But I was sitting at church today and gave me time to think about it. It's our last Sunday with him. I put my arm around him during Sacrament meeting today and laid my head on his shoulder for a little bit. I was just so sad thinking about him being gone. When we got home, he told me I almost made him cry. It will be so hard but he's ready. After church, we stayed around and talked to people a little bit so he could say his goodbyes.

There was so much to do today. This morning, I had Daniel put butter for cookies for his friend in a bowl to soften, Rhodes cinnamon rolls on the counter because I know Andrew likes them, and meatballs in the crockpot. When we got home, the boys had some meatballs and leftovers. Daniel went to Gathering Israel. Andrew, Michael, and I watched the MTC devotional on Zoom. It lasted an hour. They gave him a little virtual tour of the MTC and talked about where they're going to live and where they're going to eat and where they're going to have their lessons and they can go to the temple a few times. He is pretty excited about it. After that, I made some homemade alfredo sauce for him for dinner. Daniel made cookies for his friend Rhyas as a thank you to his dad for helping with the tire. I helped him quite a bit but he did a good job. I told him that he's ready to make them on his own but he said he enjoys making them with me so that was nice. We ate and then we set up a video call with the Utah kids. Andrew told me what to use and I sent it up all by myself. We used the cord from the PS5 and my laptop. We made the call on Messenger. Unfortunately, my laptop got drained of battery power very quickly. I'll have to make sure it's plugged in next time. We were on with them for a little over half an hour and then it went blank and my computer shut off. We finished the conversation for a few minutes on my phone and then said our goodbyes. Then we cleaned up. Daniel took the cookies to his friend and I did a couple things on the computer. We had family home evening. Andrew wanted to do an abbreviated FHE so that we could play a game together later. He really wanted to play all the phases of Phase 10. He also told us that he wants to go to Osaka tomorrow night so that's what we're going to do. Anyway, earlier when we were getting ready for dinner, I talked to the boys about a few things on my list to get those done. FHE was still kind of long. Andrew gave a great lesson. His topic was how small and simple things can bring great things to pass. He did an object lesson with some lemons and asked what would happen if he cut up the lemons and planted the seeds and talked about how to plant seeds spiritually, like showing kindness and smiling at someone to brighten their day can make a huge difference, especially if they're struggling or they're depressed and how it can change their whole day. He also talked about listening to the Spirit and we can't force it. I made the comment that some of the ways we can invite the Spirit is by saying our prayers or reading our scriptures or going to the temple. Michael made some great comments about the fruit of the tree of life. We can partake of the fruit more than once. He pointed out that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that he can then be the word of God by delivering it to the people. He also said that sometimes we only act on a prompting and we don't know what the outcome will be and that we should follow Elder Bednar's advice and just be a good boy or a good girl and go what we know we're supposed to do. I made the comment that sometimes we don't get to hear the rest of the story, but that we need to act on promptings and trust that we did what the Lord asked us to do. I reminded everyone of the story that Elder Bednar told about giving the money to President Packer and saving his wife in Germany. Elder Bednar didn't learn until many years later what had happened so he almost didn't get to hear the rest of the story but this time he did. I also talked to the boys about the Hear Him video that they showed in the MTC devotional where Elder Bednar says that we hear the Lord in our head and we feel him in our hearts. I talked to the boys about the Book of Mormon timeline and told Andrew he could take it with him on his mission if he wanted to. I asked if anyone wanted to bear their testimony and nobody did so I did. I told everybody how I'm going to miss Andrew but that I'm so glad he has chosen to go and I told the boys I know that the Lord lives and loves all of them and that we will be blessed for reading the Book of Mormon every day as a family. We had a family prayer and played Phase 10. It was already pretty late so we played for about half an hour and we will pick it up tomorrow.

 

August 6, Tuesday

It's 10:30 PM and we just finished all our chores getting Andrew ready for his mission. It's kind of a miracle that we finished everything we needed to do right on time. I spent yesterday doing a lot of chores and laundry. We had made sure that we had almost everything on the packing list. We were waiting for a few more deliveries and Andrew needed to gather a few more things and do some laundry but otherwise we were doing pretty well. 

Yesterday, he started packing one of his suitcases. He finished his home MTC at 5:30 PM. He wanted to go to Osaka one more time so we did. Our reservation was at 6 PM. We're all mad at ourselves because it turns out that all along, we could've been asking them for no vegetables and extra rice and it was amazing. We got double the amount of rice for no more cost and everybody was happy. Michael is the only one who got vegetables.

Then we came home and we read scriptures and we played some more of Phase 10. Today he and I spent all day working on getting him packed. He finished packing an entire suitcase this morning. It was 51 pounds so we had to move a few things around. Michael went to serve at the temple this morning. When he came home, he told Andrew that Brother Jones had said he was one of the nicest young men he's met who worked in the temple. Brother Arrington asked Michael to give him a hug for him. 

Andrew and I left to run a few errands and Michael stayed home to get some rest. We stopped at the temple so I could take a picture of Andrew wearing his suit with his tag and holding the Australian flag. It was pretty sunny but we took a few pictures where it was shaded.

We went to Deseret Book to return and exchange some temple clothing and Andrew bought a book to give to Finnegan when he sees him at the MTC.  He lost his CTR ring so he looked at them and they had the exact same one so we got it for him and he was pretty happy about that. I had thought about doing that for him for his birthday but I'm glad we found it. Then we went to Costa Vida so he could have his steak tacos that he loves and I had a sweet pork taco like I always do. Then we went to Swig so he could get his favorite soda. Then we went home. We kept working on our chores and he did his laundry. He got everything almost packed. He recorded what suitcase he put everything in so I could make him three separate packing lists for the three suitcases. His friend Ava came over and they talked for a little while. She's going to go to NAU. I know she's going to miss him. He was excited because she had said that he could give her a Book of Mormon but he forgot about it so as soon as she walked out the door I said, “Andrew, I thought you were going to give her a Book of Mormon,” and he said, “Oh, that's right!” So, I ran and got one for him and he took it to her. He felt bad that he forgot. We did a few more chores and Daniel went to pick up food at Canes. After we ate and cleaned up, we read Alma chapter 40. We had a family prayer and then we played the rest of our Phase 10 game. Andrew wanted to go through all 10 phases and it took us three nights to do it. We finally got it done. Michael won and we all had fun. Andrew and I finished getting organized and I made his packing lists. It's pretty amazing that we finished when we did because it could've been a lot worse and I'm glad we weren't up till midnight. We worked very hard getting things done every day so he would be ready. Before we all went to bed, Michael gave Andrew a blessing of comfort. Andrew is feeling worried, especially about his health because of his wrist and his stomach. Michael gave him a beautiful blessing. It was actually pretty long and he said a lot of wonderful things to Andrew. He blessed him that he could overcome any challenges that he faces of any kind. I asked the boys if they wanted a blessing and neither of them did. Andrew gave me a big hug after his blessing. Normally he gives me half of a hug or he doesn't even wrap his arms around me, he just puts them on my shoulders but this time it was a real hug. He is so tall that I was straining my neck and I couldn't hold it much longer. Normally, I like to wait until the boys let go but had to pull away this time. He feels ready and excited to go but I can tell that he's also sad to leave, which is all normal. I will miss him so much it scares me.