God be with you 'till we meet again

Here are some photos from Andrew's last week leading up to entering the MTC.

Rachel and Justin drove up to Boise on Thursday, May 23.  On Friday morning we went to the temple with them and Grandma and Grandpa.

It was nice to have everybody there that could be there.

The weather was really nice; Rachel and Justin had a little picnic in the back yard.

Friday night Andrew decided he wanted to go to Wingers for dinner.

He enjoyed hanging out with the family over the weekend.

Sunday Andrew and two other departing missionaries (Kendall and Abbey) spoke in church.  They all did a great job.  After church we took some photos in the back yard.

The trees were really pretty...

and Lisa was being Lisa. :)

 Monday evening Andrew was set apart as a missionary.

Then it was time to get serious about packing.  Sunny helped in his own way.

Tuesday morning we headed down to Utah.  Since it was the day after Memorial Day we stopped off in Ogden and visited the cemetery.  (We also bought a winter coat, which had been really hard to find in Boise.)

We got to Provo, dropped things off at the hotel, then picked up Rachel and Justin and went in search of food.

Wednesday morning we went out and did some last-minute shopping.  Provo has a lot more stores aimed at the missionary clientele than Boise.  Andrew even scored a free tie here.

Andrew was supposed to check in at the MTC at 1:15.  Here at T minus 60 minutes he finally competes his shopping!

We got some lunch, then went back to Rachel's place, where Andrew changed, put his last-minute purchases into the suitcases, and we headed out to the car.

On the way to the MTC we stopped in front of the Provo temple to take a few last photos.  We weren't the only ones -- there were groups of picture-takers scattered all over the large lawn.

And too soon it was time.  We drove into the MTC grounds, they directed us to a spot at the curb, and we unloaded.  We said goodbye for a few minutes, and then Andrew and his host disappeared into the crowd.

See you in two years...