Elder Dallin Martin

Well the day came and past. Dallin is now gone. He entered the MTC on Wednesday August 13th. It was super hard to say goodbye to him that afternoon. Keep in mind i was the one who was excited for him to go. I knew i would miss him but, i thought it would be easy to say goodbye. Holy cow was i super wrong. 

The tears started coming the Sunday of his farewell and have not really stopped yet. His farewell was great. He did such a good job. The day was crazy busy, my aunt came to our house at 9 and started making the "missionary ham sandwiches". We got dressed and went to church at 11. People came over to the house right after sacrament meeting and thats when the fun began. It was lots of fun to spend the hole day with the family and lots of friends. The day ended around 10. What a great day!!

The next part of the special time was Tuesday. We had a family dinner with the grandparents and our little family. It was Dallin's favorite meal, Roast beef, mashed potatoes, yorkshire pudding, gravy, rolls, and some veggies. Yum. Then we went over to the stake center and Dallin was set apart as a missionary. This was an amazing expirence. The spirit was so strong. The night was again spent with lots of family. Lots of tears shed that night. 

Wednesday. My mom got up and made our family breakfast. The morning was full of weird feelings. Dallin was busy packing and the rest of us kind of walked around in a daze. My mom gave me a job to decorate the car with window markers, i was excited. The time came that we needed to head down to the MTC for the drop off. I think this was the day that it kind of hit all of us that Dallin was leaving. Emotions were high. My dad gave Dallin a blessing before we left, then my grandpa prayed for us to be safe and comforted and varies other things. We got in the car and were off. My mom brought the Called to Serve CD and popped it in the player. The first song was called to serve, Dallin started to cry and ask her to turn it off. She did.

We got to the MTC and a nice worker said this is where we take the missionary, his baggage and the passengers and the driver will park the car and meet up with the family at the entrance in a minute. We left his bags at spot 36 then walked to the front to meet dad. We entered through the friends and family door and D went through the missionary door. Dallin got his badge and "dork dot". We then went down some halls that led to the "room of doom". They sat us down and we watched some commercials. Of all things to watch it was commercials you see on TV, the isn't it about time....FAMILY commercials. Yeah great thing to watch as you are getting ready to leave your missionary for 2 years. NOT!!!

The meeting started. We were to sing Called to serve as the opening hymn. Stupid song to sing. I think i got two words out of my mouth between all the sobbing. We had some speakers and then a closing prayer. They said it is now time to say good-bye, we suggest you use the "band aide" method, the faster the better. Wow-harsh. We got up, Dad got the first hug then mom then Bry, Cam and then me. According to my brothers i got the longest hug of the siblings. I didn't want to let him go. He told me it would be ok, he was doing the right thing. I said i love you and let him go. Mom gave him a few more hugs and that was that. He walked out his door and didn't look back. 

We left the MTC, all crying. We decided to go to Cabelas so we didn't have to go home right away. I have pictures of that i'll post in a bit.

I miss the kid like crazy. I was driving home from work and singing to the radio when i saw missionaries and i started bawling my eyes out. He is doing the right thing, i know that. It is still hard. He made me angry at times but oh man most the time it was lots of laughs with that boy. We have received 2 letters from him. All is well, he seems so grown up now. 

My family went to the Buzz game the Monday before he left, i didn't go. My job was to hang up the clothes in the dryer. No fair! They didn't tell me it was ALL of his white missionary shirts. Think i cried on a few of them.