Matthew was set apart Sunday, August 10th. The day before he started home MTC. He gave his farewell talk in sacrament that morning, and was set apart that afternoon. Our church still zoom’s the sacrament meeting for people that can’t be there in person but want to listen, so we were able to send the link to family that was far away to watch if they wanted too. I was planning on recording it, but new I would probably forget so I asked Emilee to record it for me. I did forget until about half way through so I was glad she did it for me. A few of his friends from high school that hadn’t left for college yet came and listened to his talk. I think he did a great job. I am proud of him and excited for him.
Monday, August 11th Matthew started the MTC (Missionary Training Center) at home through online zoom meetings. August 11th is the day our family has always remembered Aaron. I think it is pretty special and not a coincidence that Matthew started his mission on the same day Aaron returned to heaven and started his mission there.
Home MTC is a little rough, its is several 3 hour long online zoom meetings and studying with your companion for several more hours each day. Day one was fun to start meeting people and exciting that your mission is actually starting. His first companion is Elder Stewart (not sure if that is how he spells it though). He did a year of college at a military college in Colorado. They are a good pair. I am writing this a few weeks after they met but they seemed like a good fit from the beginning. By day two he was already getting a little stir crazy. It is hard to focus for three hours but on a zoom call it is even harder. We tried to take him out of the house for lunch. I tried to be around on his breaks to give him someone to interact with in person. We played games after family dinner. Campbell came over most evenings to hangout. It was a little awkward for them because Matthew is supposed to follow all the mission rules so he was trying to keep it friendly. Campbell knew but still wanted to sit close and snuggle. Matthew handled it with pats on the back and lots of pacing and walking around while he talked with her. A little awkward.
Overall, it is a good transition for starting a mission. He is still home so I get to ease into him leaving, and he gets to ease into following the rules and getting on the missionary schedule. After a week of it though, he was itching to get to the real MTC. I imagine the process will be the same for the MTC, excitement and adjusting at first, then going crazy and ready to get to your actual mission by the time the five weeks are up.
He flew out Tuesday, August 19th. He flew by himself to Atlanta Georgia. In Atlanta, he thought he would meat up with about 20 missionaries and fly to Sao Paulo. I found out later it was more like 60. That would be cool to see 60 missionaries getting on a plane together. There was no communication with us about his flight and meeting other people. As far as I knew he was flying the whole way by himself. He wasn’t supposed to take his phone with him, so that meant I had no way to see if he was where he was supposed to be or for him to communicate with anyone if there was a change or problem with flights, or if he even made it to his final destination. That bothered me a lot. I told him he had to take his phone and he could turn it off once he got there. Matthew is a rule follower so he didn’t want to take his phone. After several discussions and not coming to an agreement, Ryan told Matthew that even Jesus broke a rule when his mom asked him to do something so he had to take the phone. Matthew didn’t like it but being the sweet respectful son he is, he grudgingly agreed. However, when he found out there were at least a dozen other missionaries meeting him in Atlanta, I felt much better. Normally I wouldn’t be to comforted having to rely on a think tank of a dozen teenagers, but knowing if there was a problem, or missed flight, he wouldn’t be completely alone I felt a lot calmer about sending him off to a foreign country with no phone. I told him I was ok with him not taking his phone, but I was putting an air tag in his carryon luggage so I could at least see where he was.
Dropping him off at the airport is one of the hardest days of my life. A piece of my heart literally walked away, waved at me one last time through the security gate and will be gone for the next two years. Somehow I am supposed to carry on like everything is great. I don’t even want to write about how hard its been. Just. Hard.
Ryan tried to get a video of some hugs for me to watch while he was gone, Allison ruined it. I am angry about it but I am still keeping the video.
The air tag in his luggage was a life line for me. I really appreciated being able to know he made it to Atlanta, and then Sao Paulo, and then the MTC. It helped me a lot. Once he made it to the MTC they gave him a phone and he texted to say he made it, the flight was horrible and ask if he packed any temple clothes. It was the best text ever. The MTC sent us a picture of everyone together to let us know they arrived too.
I am going to tag all the missionary posts I write while he is gone and then when he gets home I can print them all into a book for him. This is the first post. Only 23 1/2 months to go.