Going into the MTC

Tues Feb 27th- Todd finished packing, 

 with some help from John

That evening Todd was set apart by Pres Lovelle (who was called to be our new Stake President just last week) and his councilor Pres Jensen, and Todd officially became Elder Jolley,

 ready to serve in the California Long Beach Mission!

That night we drove to Nephi, and spent the night at 

Grandma & Grandpa Anderson and Mike's house

Wed Feb 27, 2013- We drove to Provo. First we had a nice lunch at Chuck-A-Rama (They gave Todd a complimentary meal, since he was going into the MTC)

 Then we drove up by the Provo Temple to take our last pictures:

 A nice family from North Carolina was also there taking pictures with their missionary, and they offered to take the above picture of us. 

Come to find out, their son, Elder Jones, is also going to the California Long Beach Mission, speaking English, also going into the MTC today at 1:15, they are wearing the exact same shoes, they are both 18 and even their birthdays are only a week apart! 

 Can't wait to get Elder Jolley's first letter and find out if he and Elder Jones are together in the MTC :)

Then it was time- we drove Elder Jolley into the Missionary Training Center

 We pulled up at the curb, and some helpful Elders unloaded his luggage.

Elder Jolley handed over his cell phone (no, Jayci does not get to keep it :)

The last goodbyes 

And then Elder Jolley was off to his new life, his two year adventure!

We love you Elder Jolley and are so proud of you and your choice to serve the Lord!

Watch out California!!

Farwell

 Todd spoke in Sacrament Meeting today, before he goes into the MTC on Wednesday.
Sure wish I would have grabbed my camera and taken more pictures of the almost 40 wonderful family and friends that traveled through the snow to be here to support him today!

But I did at least take these:

Troy and Samantha drove down clear from Tooele to be here

with their cute kids Brenton

Alyssa

and Trevor

Julene is currently serving a Mission in Moscow Russia, and she sent Todd this Russian tie, which he wore today

Dad with John and Trevor

Todd with Mom

Todd with Heather Jensen

Heather leaves for her mission to Nashville Tennessee in April

With people here for the weekend, we partied!

On Friday night we had an Aggravation game, and the girls were the All-time winners :)

Trevor (5 months old) and John (10 months old)

We are proud of Todd, he gave a great talk today in Sacrament Meeting.

 He is going to be an awesome missionary!!

Endowments in Manti Temple

Today Todd received his Endowments in the Manti Temple.

Last night Dad, Mom and Todd drove to Nephi to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's for the night. (Jessica was nice and came to our house to stay with Jayci (10 yrs old) for the weekend).

 That evening Troy, Sam, Brenton, Alyssa, and Trevor stopped in Nephi so we could see those cute kids (can't believe I didn't take a picture!) then they went and spent the night in Chester with Sam's parents.

Today we had Todd to the Temple just before noon, took the top picture of him just before he walked in. The Temple President, Pres Grimshaw, is a cousin to our Stake President Brough, and the Temple Prep teacher in our ward, Worth Grimshaw, so we went to Pres Grimshaw's office so Todd could tell him hello from his cousins. All the cute Temple workers were so nice and took good care of Todd.

Grandma and Grandpa Jolley drove through the rain clear from Enterprise this morning, Krystal (from Saratoga Springs) and Kathleen came, Troy & Sam and Grandpa Anderson were also there (Grandma A was sick unfortunately)
We had such a beautiful day in the Temple, it was so wonderful to be with Todd at this special time, he just glowed! The Church is so true!

Afterwards we went out to eat with our fun group (wish I had gotten the picture before Kathleen & Krystal had to leave). It certainly was a special day, in preparation for Todd's serving his mission!