Saturday, March 23, 2013

How many times do I have to do this???

1 down, 3 to go! Being an older sister is HARD! Last Wednesday we dropped the first Elder Searle off at the MTC. I'm such a baby. I was bawling before my family even made it to Utah to pick me up. When my family came to get me, I gave Jade a big bear hug and said, "HOLY COW! YOU'RE A MISSIONARY!" He didn't make much of a response... everyone was pretty somber... I'm glad I didn't have to endure a 3 1/2 hour car ride like that. Lets take him and get this over with! We had some time before his drop-off time so we went to Zupa's to grab some food and we sat and ate in silence. Haha everyone was so sad! It was ridiculous.  After that we went to the lower praking lot of the temple to take some pictures... And again, we stood in silence. I kept tearing up as we stood there and I asked countless times, "Can we PLEASE just drop him off?! I'm just going to keep crying!" Did they listen to me? No. haha so we kind of just stood there for 20 minutes staring at eachother and trying to refrain from bawling. We started towards the suburban and dad gave Jade a big ole hug and they both started to cry. My father and my "grown-up" little brother were CRYING. Seeing that got me started again and I couldn't stop. Jade got in back and sat between Jake and Jason, one arm around each of them. We made a silent drive across the street to the MTC and I looked back to see Jason sitting there with his eyes closed and tears streaming down his face. My heart BROKE in that moment. Jason is Jade's little mini-me. He is so attached to him and I knew this would be hard especially for him, but watching that made me bawl. (I'm crying right now just writing about it!) We got to the MTC and when they say "curb side" they mean CURB SIDE! An escort greeted Jade and helped him get his luggage. Jade greeted him back by saying, "I'm Elder Searle, nice to meet you." Whoa! That really put it in perspective for me. They got everything together and his escort asked him to hurry and make his last goodbyes. He hugged mom, Jake, Jason, dad, Justin and started walking away... HOLD IT! I grabbed his arm and said, "Whoa! You better say goodbye to me mister!" I gave him a great big hug and just couldn't let him go. He started to cry and I just kept bawling. I finally let him go and watched him being rushed into the MTC. That was it. We all got back into the suburban and sat there crying. This was ridiculously hard. I looked over at Justin and I saw him wiping at his eyes. Even tough 16 year old Justin was crying. I sat there thinking, oh my. I have to go through this 3 more times!!! When I say "have" to, I really mean GET to. It was a great experience being able to drop Jade off at the MTC. But it was very hard as well. It's a comfort to know that he said goodbye to his family for 2 years so he can help others be with theirs for eternity! He is going to be such a wonderful missionary. He is a strong, hard working farm boy with a fire burning testimony. He will work wonders! Go get em' Elder Searle! See you in two!

4 comments:

  1. oh! sad! that brought back memories of dropping rob and alex off curbside!!! hardest thing ever! :) he'll be a great missionary!

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  2. I may or may not have just gotten extremely teary reading this. Having brothers out is such a blessing! I loved all 4 of em!

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  3. I can't believe Jade is old enough to be a missionary! And Justin is 16 and probably dating up a storm!! When did they grow up? When did WE grow up? I can't promise that it will get easier, but I do know how blessed you all will be because of his service. He will be a great missionary.

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  4. You writing about crying made me almost cry! You should just start counting down until they all start getting home. Already have one home :) I never went with to drop my siblings at the MTC. I've heard it is no fun at all. He will be such a great missionary. The people where he is serving will be so lucky to have him.

    PS: There needs to be an engagement post! I am watching for it

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