Eric leaves on his Mission

This morning Eric boarded a plane at the St. George airport bound for Santiago, Chile.  He officially begins his mission for the next two years.  The past couple of months have seen several milestones for both Eric and our family as he prepared to serve a mission.  A few weeks ago we had a wonderful evening when Eric went to the Temple.  Deb & I had all of our children in the Celestial Room with us in the St. George Temple.  His farewell address in Sacrament meeting was excellent and inspiring. This morning the Stake President, Barry Bundy, set him apart as a full time missionary.  It was a wonderful and powerful blessing.  There were plenty of tears shed at that time and again at the airport as we bid him farewell.  We are all so very proud of him and know that he will be a great missionary as he learns the language and becomes imbedded in the culture of Chile.  He should arrive in Santiago in the morning and go straight to the MTC there to be instructed for the next 6 weeks.  We hope to hear from him soon so that we know that he has arrived there safely.