Preston's Mission Farewell

So Preston turned 18 in July.  He had previously thought about going to a semester of school at BYU but changed his mind and ended up putting in his mission papers. 

He was called to the Taiwan Taichung mission speaking Mandarin Chinese and would report to the Provo MTC on December 18, 2013. 

As the time came closer and closer, it all became more real that he would be gone for 2 years but it never really felt sad. 

We held a little farewell open house at our parents' house on Dec. 7th and he spoke in church the next day, Dec. 8th. His talk was so good, about the Articles of Faith, and you could just tell he was excited and ready to be out there. We all know that he's going to be an amazing missionary! He's so smart, outgoing, strong, and dedicated, we know he's going to do well. 

The red heads! 

We were all together one last time before he left! Hayley came home for the weekend but then had to go back and finish the semester at BYU-I, so she had to say good bye in person sooner than the rest of us :( 

But of course it's a party when we get together!

Hayley's roommate, Amanda, came home with her for the weekend, and he very good friend, Emmy, was over too. Idk why we did this but we all had scarves on and it was awesome so we did :)  

Booker was being King of the Jungle and enjoying the attention while showing off. 

He got to play with the "cousins" and loves playing with these little boys. They are technically my cousins but because of age and as to not confuse, we just call them his cousins. 

Loves :)

They were being cheesers together! So cute! 

It's hard to believe that Preston will be gone for 2 years! But like I said it wasn't really that sad. We've been preparing him to go on a mission since he was Booker's age, so now that it's finally here it's almost like go and get done :) He's going to be amazing and we'll miss him but what better way for him to spend his next two years than serving the Lord and the people of Taiwan! 

So long Ginger Prince :) See ya in two! We love you Prest!