He is off to the MTC!

Well I am officially a Missionary momma! Wow! I had sat down yesterday before we went to Cole being set apart and wrote him a letter on Dear Elder. In it I told him somethings I felt as a mom I was wanting to say. You know how it is. You are sending your kid off to camp etc and you think of their personalities and know that they need to maybe make sure they have patience with others or take their vitamins. Stupid stuff that us moms worry about.

As I listened to his blessing and being set a part as a Missionary the Lord addressed some of the same things I had in his letter. Matters of being patient with his companions, turning to the Lord when he might be struggling with learning the language. Things like that. One other thing I worried about is where he is going it is very difficult to get packages to them. We are told to not send the normal care packages because of the taxes he may have to pay to get the package. That was hard for me. Especially since I like to do that type of thing.  But I also worried it would be difficult for him not getting that type of emotional support. The Lord reassured me by blessing him with the emotional strength he would need for his mission.

It seems funny to say it but so true. Even when we forget that Heavenly Father knows what we need and what our children need he lets us know in his own way that he is taking care of those worries.

We had a heck of a time getting his luggage within weight requirements. Last minute packagers we are so at 10pm last night we weighed his bag the 1 bag he get that can weigh NO more than 50 lbs. It weighed 60lbs. YIKES! Everything in there was on his required list. We looked at it tried taking things out and he sat on the floor next to me and said lets have a prayer. After saying a prayer and moving things around and deciding to mail his other pair of shoes to the MTC we weighed in at 49.6lbs. Holy Cow! And we had to do some changing of bags as a carry on that was too heavy as well. But we managed to get it done. On his way out it won't have all his toiletries and sweatshirt and sweater and sweatpants. So that will drop it some. He will be learning to live on necessities only the next 2 year for sure.

I wanted to include his message he left on Facebook right before he was set apart. It was a sweet message one that of course made this momma cry.
 --
+
Well this is it my friends! It's not as though i post often if ever, but I need to let all those who have yet to hear that in about 40 minutes i will be set apart as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints! I will be serving in the Caribbean and part of South America. I am honored that that I can serve him and hope that you all know that God is always looking after you even when you fear he isn't! I know this to be true with all of my being. God has many things in store for each of us. He knows our strengths weakness's and anything else you could imagine. As we go through the hard times which test our faith I ask you to please turn to him. I love you all and will see y'all in a few! Be Safe,Strong and trust that there is a purpose for everything!-- Cole

Kinda blurry but will post better pictures after I get them transferred to the Computer. Cole or shall I say Elder Stewart-Johnson I am so stinkin proud of you. I  love you with all my heart. Take care and REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU STAND FOR! Much love sweetie.