The Beginning

November  2016.......the call came!  We have been called to serve in the Frankfurt Germany mission for the OGC (office of General Counsel) to begin on July 3, 2017.  We had 8 months to prepare, to get our lives in order so we could leave our home, family and worldly possessions behind for a period of 18 months.  Doctor appointments, dentist appointments, appointments with bankers, updating our wills, getting our cars situated, our home rented out......the list goes on and on.....whew!  There was a lot to do!  Farewell talks at church, open house, setting apart by the Stake President......and we were off to the MTC!

Today was a great day.  We entered the MTC this morning, July 3, 2017 at 10:30 am.  The day was filled with instruction, advice and meeting new friends.  There are 150 new senior missionaries going all over the world to serve in different capacities.  We first got our missionary badges to identify who we were and where we will be serving, then we had a few classes to familiarize us with the large campus of the MTC (mission training center).  We then met all together in a conference hall and the first thing we did was sing together "Called to Serve" a familiar hymn sung often in missionary farewells all over the world.  This picture below is a picture from June 18, 2017 when we gave our farewell talks at church with great friends who came to hear us speak.....the Gallup's and the Stebbing's and of course our second daughter, Kerianne.

This picture is of my TEXAS friends and Cate, my new friend from Chicago who now is my wonderful neighbor and dear friend.  We all met for a luncheon one last time before I left on my mission for Germany.