Tru Missionary

This picture was taken by Bre Briggs mother....a worker in the Provo MTC. She meets and checks in the new missionaries and gives them their official name tag:

ELDER WELCH

England, Manchester Mission..

Wow

He is really gone.

His room is clean.

His bed is made.

His belongings boxed up.....hidden so "the Brothers" won't take all of his stuff like he took all of Addison's.

We had a great night at Truman's setting apart. Pres. Brian Taylor and Bishop Steve Barlow came to our home. We had our immediate family and the grandparents join us for this special blessing. We got to go around the family circle and bear our testimony or say something to Truman. It was great to hear and share these feelings.

Grandma Sheri reminded T that his name tag will say Jesus Christ on it....so Tru, as a missionary, will always have Jesus going before him.

Grandma Welch shared ...that Truman and the Lord make a majority....and that's all you need.

We read scriptures and talked about "exactness" and obedience.

Laila said, "I'm very happy my brother is going on a mission and I'm going to be very, very, very happy when he gets back home. He's amazing."

She has shed very little tears. Truman has shed many.

It's great for me to witness this.

He is my jokester. My funny kid.

So it's nice when he stops and feels.

Truman received a beautiful setting apart blessing, and now he is ready to set himself apart from the things of the world and to serve the Lord.

We have had non stop late nights and tear filled goodbyes since Tru's farewell shindig -10 days ago.

Tonight was our turn. There were many "wet" goodbye hugs. A final family prayer led by Grandpa Lyle, and a hands-all-together "forever" cheer.

The saddest goodbye was from cousin Lindsey Welch. (T's bff cousin. ) She hugged and cried and hugged and sobbed. She wrote,"don't leave" on the chalk board door..and cried some more. Lauren Nickl--a bff-- couldn't hug Tru at this point because he was set apart. So she hugged Lindsey,while Lindsey hugged Tru. It was like witnessing a sobbing, wet, train wreck. They couldn't stop.

Laila's night prayer included the following: "Please bless Truman that he will remember that he's on a mission and not a vacation." She totally gets it.

Truman was up til 2:30am packing and cleaning... He turned over his cell phone and signed off on facebook. He is ready.

Wayne gave Tru a father's blessing to calm his nerves; then Truman gave me a blessing to calm mine. It was the sweetest thing to hear what Truman thought I needed in this blessing.....It was surreal to have his hands on my head-- I used to hold his little head in my hands.....

We drove to Provo and only had to stop at 2 stores to pick up forgotten items. Truman looked so sharp in his black missionary suit and special tie he saved for this day. My little boy "looka-like-a-man." Tears.

We ate at Chili's for our final lunch. We ordered queso and chips...Truman scooped in and dumped a glob of greasy cheese sauce on his new tie. He immediately put it in his mouth and sucked on it to remove the stain. I thought., "He might look like a man...but he is still a little boy." Tears. The tie is pretty much ruined.

We took pics by the Missionary Training Sign....said our final choked up goodbyes in the parking lot before we drove Truman to the drop off spot.

My #3 son is gone.

Another Elder Welch is serving the Lord.

Wayne is excited about this....but mostly excited about the thoughts of actually going to bed with lights out and no one wandering the house, by 10:30!!!

We started the sticker calendar this morning....only 729 days left.