Arriving at the Missionary Traning Center

Wednesday, August 21st was a day that we had anticipated for months! (Note, this was also Jeremy & I's 21st Wedding Anniversary!) We had a normal morning and family prayer right before lunch. Ashlyn, Paige, Hailey & the Maryland Cousin all rode in Grandma's car. Jeremy & I rode together and it took us much longer due to road construction around the area. We met at the parking lot across the street from the MTC and was given an instruction sheet by a nice man in the parking lot about "making the dropoff smooth." Ashlyn was so very anxious to go. She kept asking if we could leave and she was extremely worried about being late. We had Grandma Hart, our Maryland cousin & our family in the car with us. (The more the merrier! We love our family.) The steady stream of cars going into the MTC was amazing! Ashlyn began to beam. She was literally glowing & her smile was incredibly bright.

A green light going into the MTC (8/21/13)

We made our way in and was met by sidewalks lined with many, many Elders and Sisters. What a cool sight to see this small part of God's Army. And then, oh so very humbling, to think that Sister Galloway was soon to join them. I was also impressed by the number of families there dropping off a missionary & knowing about the sacrifice, the time, money and love a missionary family has in order to get their missionary to this point, it was really special. We also all felt the Spirit very strongly.

Curbside drop off at the MTC. A very happy Ashlyn!

 A beautiful Sister Missionary met us as our car pulled up to the curb. (She had Chinese or Japanese on her name tag and we never asked where she was going, unfortunately.) She welcomed us to the MTC and as the bags were unloaded, she asked who each person in our car was & where Ashlyn was going to serve. She was so very kind & gentle & her spirit was a calming influence on all of our nervous stomachs. Ashlyn gave each us a big hug. Jeremy told Ash to give me (the teary mom) an extra hug. Ashlyn grabbed one of her 50+ lb. suitcases, the Sister missionary took the other 50+ lb. suitcase & they walked away, chatting the whole time. We watched Ashlyn for as long as we could, in the sea of missionaries. And she never looked back.