The 800 Club

We got our girl sent off to Brazil!  She gave an excellent farewell talk.  Her topic was the April 2011 conference talk by Walter Gonzalez titled Followers of Christ.  She shared some personal experiences of her Korean roommates deciding to get baptized and one of her special needs boys in Ecuador wanting to be baptized.  She talked about how our love for others and how we treat others is a reflection of our own commitment to be a follower of Christ.  She has a strong testimony and she is ready to go!  Lots of family and friends joined us for lunch at Mack Park.  We especially appreciated Kori's OSSO friends who traveled from places in Idaho and Utah to be there.  She was set apart by President Oliverson Sunday evening and he gave her a beautiful blessing.  Monday morning we loaded up, had some breakfast at Herm's and then headed for the airport.  When we got there, we found some of her traveling group, several Elders who were headed to a variety of Brazil missions.  They all looked a little nervous and their families were hugging them for a long time and crying.  I'm sure they were all 18 and this was their first time going away from home.  Kori on the other hand was bursting with joy and energy and could not wait to get on the plane!  It was actually not that hard to send her off to security since we have done this so many times with her.  It seemed pretty normal.  Wes and I felt so loved when we got home.  Our door had been decorated by our favorite grand child. :) We had neighbors bring us goodies and muffins and flowers, which was so sweet!  The MTC sent us a picture of the arriving missionaries and a very nice email. We got an email from Kori the next day saying how excited she was to be back in South America.  She sounds very happy and ready to get to work.  We hope that awesome attitude will continue.  We miss you and love you Sister Thompson!  We know you are right where you are supposed to be right now, and we look forward to updates from Brazil!

We are so impressed with the Brazil MTC so far!  Isn't this a happy group of missionaries?