MTC-

Hey everybody! Austin's sister here. My name is Emily and he asked me to blog his mission so you all can see how he's doing! It's crazy that I'm making this first post but I'm so excited to share with you all about his mission. Yesterday, Austin left to the MTC. And as amazing as it was, it was also very hard. But what was so cool was when we dropped him off, there was so much peace seeing him walk away knowing he will be taken care of and he's doing what he's supposed to do. 

So this is how the day went: 

He woke up at 6:30 for companion study with my dad. and then after went into my mom's room to lay on her bed and talk to her. My husband and I arrived at the house at 9am and then we were on our way! While we were driving, we came across this overpass:

Once we got down to Provo, we went to eat at Mimi's Cafe. My husband and Austin are very close, so the whole time we were at breakfast Austin kept asking stuff about the MTC. I could tell that my husband loved talking about it and giving Austin pointers.

After breakfast,we went to the Provo Temple to take pictures. While we were walking up to the temple, Austin saw his best friend Dillon (who is also going to the same mission) and Dillon's family. That was really cool to see him and I could tell it gave Austin some peace.

Here are some pictures at the temple:

Elder Yocom and Elder Elkins

Mom and Son.

Dad and son.

Brothers.

Brothers and Brother-in-law

His sisters. 

We dragged the temple as long as we could. and then got in the car to drop him off. While we were driving my mom kept saying "Not yet! Not yet". and then at 12:42 we got in line to drop him off.

We stopped at number 11 and his Escort was SO nice and SO welcoming to Austin. We gave him hugs, shed some tears, but stayed strong for Austin. When he walked away, he was smiling so big. He was so happy to be there.

We love you Austin, and we are so excited for you to serve a mission. You will be deeply missed but we will keep you in our prayers always. Now its the countdown til you come home instead of you leaving!