And Thus, He Begins

Nathan began his missionary service today. He will be in home MTC for a week and a half and then spend a week and a half in the Provo MTC. Before Christmas he was well occupied with school and social events but he has spent the last several months counting down the days. He hasn’t squandered his time at all, filling his days with institute classes, mission prep and at least three visits a week to a variety of the temples in the near vicinity, but he has been very excited to start which on occasion has made the time seem long. On the flip side, the past two months have flown by, and it is hard to believe he is really leaving us next week.

One of Nathan’s tasks over the past several weeks was to get his study space ready for his home MTC time. He has packed up his room and put away things that would be a distraction. The info he received suggested that he put up some pictures of Christ as reminders, but Nathan already has images of the Savior and other religious artwork plastered all over his walls, so other than packing up things and making sure all his materials were close at hand, there wasn’t much to do to ready his space. On Saturday morning Kev helped him get all his tech arranged and with scriptures, manuals, and journals at the ready, all he had to do this morning was turn on the computer and log in to his classes. 

Every time he had a break, Nathan would dash out of his room for a few minutes and share what he had done and learned during that block of time. The tight schedule was a bit of an adjustment after running on his own time for several months now, but it was all good. He had an amazing day, is super excited to keep learning and continue to get to know his companions better, and by the end of the day he was exhausted by all he had done. It was one of those situations where he sat at the computer for the majority of the day but was so mentally weary by the end of the day that he was completely ready to sleep by the time his day ended. But he had a great day and is so happy that he is finally able to get started on this amazing new adventure. Hopefully we will be able to retain that joy and enthusiasm as he moves forward in his mission service.