Farewell Elder

Good-byes are hard.  Especially when it is your oldest son leaving for two years.  But the time has come and gone and McKay is officially serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Lima, Peru.  Here are some events leading up to his departure:

 

McKay and Jeremy had one last arm wrestle to see if McKay could finally beat his dad.

 McKay couldn't win left handed either.  His dad still has it!

McKay gave a great farewell talk in church.  He was overly worried about the talk because it was supposed to be 10-15 minutes with the subject being prophets.  I told him to say what he wanted to say and call it good.  His talk was about 8 minutes and was perfect.   After church, we had friends and family over for lunch to wish McKay well and to spend time with him before he leaves.

 

 Here is McKay with two of his best friends, Justin and Parker.

 The Haacke's came down from Idaho.

  

 Group hug!

A lot of other people came to the house after, but when you house is so full and you are enjoying everyone being there, you forget to take pictures.

 Emma, McKay's cousin, wasn't able to make it to his farewell, so she came to visit him the next day before he left.  They are good friends!

Monday night our stake president, President Juchau, came to the house to set McKay apart.  He asked each of us to go around and say something about McKay.  It was tender.  Jaxon came home from EFY to see McKay set apart and to send him off at the airport.

These two brothers are the best of friends and watching them hug it out after McKay was set apart was hard on a mom's heart.

We had to leave for the airport at 4:00 AM to get McKay there on time for his 7:00 AM flight.  One last picture at home before departure.

And he is off!  A piece of my heart will be wandering around Peru for the next two years.  You can follow McKay's adventures at eldermckaywhite.blogspot.com.