Grandma and Grandpa Are Off to Serve

Ah, the glorious Salt Lake Temple.

We went to Utah a week and a half ago to send Weston's parents off on their mission- another mission.  Their last mission was to Santiago, Chile where they worked in the mission office.  They have been back for 3 years.

Now they have been called to serve as

MISSION PRESIDENTS!

(Grandpa as the President and Grandma as the wife of the President, which is no small task.) 

They will serve for 3 years in

Bogota, Colombia!

They will be speaking Spanish.  

Being the president to all of those missionaries (I think there are around 200 in their mission) is a big deal.  And speaking Spanish the whole time, WOW!  

Wow about it all!

If you get the Ensign Magazine, you can look in the back of the June 2012 edition, and see their names listed with all of the other new mission presidents.

All 6 of their sons and all 5 of their daughters-in-law, plus Weston's paternal grandparents, his aunt who was representing my mother-in-law's mother, and Kyle, the oldest grandchild who is 13, gathered together last Friday morning (and Kate's 8th birthday) on Temple Square.  Weston's cousin, Bekah, met us there in front of the temple to watch our kids for us.  (Thank you, Cute Bekah!)

We were escorted to a room in the Administration building where we got to meet Elder D. Todd Christofferson, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Elder Richard J. Maynes of the Presidency of the Seventy.  It was soooo cool to be part of that.

l to r: Jamon, Weston, me, Staci with Baby Asher, Elder Maynes, Elder Christofferson, Jamee, Grandpa, Daron, Grandma, Great Grandma, Cameron, Great Grandpa, Natalie, Shana, Tyson, Ammon, Leslie (with child)

I was overcome with the spirit of the Lord as we were all gathered together, and was thinking how amazing my parents-in-law are, and my parents, both who are now on missions out of the country.  I was thinking what in the world can I do better to be able to "hang with" these amazing people, and to help my children want that in their life, too.  I was also thinking how much I'm going to miss them.  They have been our closest neighbors (and pretty much only neighbors) for the last 3 years.  I have such a deep love and respect for them, as I do for my own dear and wonderful parents.  They are all such dynamic people.  We had all 4 of them right beside us for a little while, and what heaven that was: all 4 grandparents all to ourselves!  Now they are all far away in a distant country. 

After we left the Administration Building, we went over to the Family History Center where Aunt Margaret is serving a mission.  Margaret's husband Craig, my mother-in-law's brother, passed away just a few weeks ago.

We said our goodbyes to Grandma and Grandpa that night at Jamon and Staci's house.  Then they headed to the Missionary Training Center (M.T.C.), which is just a few minutes away from where we were.

In front of the famous M.T.C. world map.

With Richard G. Scott, an Apostle, in the M.T.C.

With Jeffrey R. Holland, another Apostle, and his wife.

They were in the M.T.C. for about 5 days, and then flew to Lima, Peru for a few days for training and then on to Colombia on Saturday.

Good luck, Grandma and Grandpa!

We love you!