Missionary Coundown Banner

I made this banner today to countdown the months until my son returns home from his church mission.  Today is his first official day, so on the 27th of each month I'm going to cut off a pennant.  There are 24 pennants as he will be gone for 2 years. 

He is in Brazil so I put a Brazilian flag on every pennant except the last one, I put a US flag because he will be coming home that month.

It is pretty long and I haven't quite decided where I want to hang it yet, but I can't wait for it to get smaller and smaller! 

Visa Received

Adam received his visa, passport and itinerary in the mail today.  He is officially going straight to Brazil!  He has two weeks left before he leaves for Brazil on April 26th. 

Last Saturday we went to the Seattle Temple and Adam was able to go through for the first time.  What a wonderful day!  The Gamblins came too, they were so sweet to support Adam like that.  He is speaking in our ward on Sunday and then in the Young Single Adult Ward the next Sunday.  Now just packing left!

5 Weeks to Go

Just a quick update on the mission prep status.  Adam received his online visa application from the Brazil Consulate which is a good sign.  A lot of the recent missionaries called to Brazil didn't get to this phase of the visa process until they were in the MTC.  We can check the status online and it currently is in the "Received" status.  It still has to go through the "Processing" and "Authorized" before it is "Ready for Collection" so we still have a long wait ahead, but we are keeping our fingers crossed and including it in our prayers.

We scheduled April 9, 2011 for his temple endowments to take place.  We will need to get his whites for that and for baptisms while he is in Brazil.

All of Adam's medical items are now complete as he went to the doctor a few weeks ago to get the last of his immunizations done.  His arms were sore for a few days from the last three shots. 

Last week Adam received a letter from the Mission President in Vitoria, Brazil, that was pretty exciting for him.  He tells Adam that Vitoria translated means "Victory!" and that it is a fairly new mission being formed on July 1, 2009.  The letter also gave him some specific information about his mission, there are four stakes and three member districts.  The mission covers the entire state of Espirito Santo as well as portions of two other states - Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais. 

So what does he have left to do before he starts packing?  Pretty much just the temple and needing to buy personal items (shampoo, shaving cream, etc.).  When he got his call in December, April 26th seemed so far away and now it is just around the corner.  I think we are right on track on the preparations, I know it will be here before we know it.  Just keep praying for that Visa!  

Mission Prep Updates

Besides the usual white shirts, socks, shoes, etc. we found a few things for Adam that were a little unsual, cool and fun to take with him on his mission.  First and, from what I hear, most important are the ties.  I understand that missionaries trade ties (kind of like trading pins at Disneyland) just to keep life interesting.  We found some awesome ties at the Missionary Mall (and guaranteed not to bleed into his white shirts which apparently happens in the Brazil humidity with silk ties).  It is really the only way to express yourself on your mission, so ties are very important.


But then we found this really fun tie, the Pillow Tie.  You can see in the back of it where the blow-up pillow part is.  The sign over the Pillow Ties said something like "because all events where you need to where a tie should be slept through."  So maybe he will never use it, but you gotta take your fun where you can get it right?!
Another thing that Adam thought was really neat was this back pack that they had at the Missionary Mall that has a camel pack (a plastic bladder that holds water).  It is made to not leak or perspire so that his back won't get wet and will keep everything in the back pack dry too.  It is pretty hot in Vitoria so he is looking forward to having a way to keep water with him.

But, by far, Adam thought the coolest thing was the belt he got that has a zipper on the inside so that he can keep his cash safe as he walks around Brazil.  Kind of spy like, right?!

Well, we still have some more shopping to do to get him ready, but not much.  He has spent a few days with very sore arms as he got his Yellow Fever, Typhoid and Influenza shots.  Things keep moving along, now if only that online visa application would come we would really be moving along!

 

Mission Shopping

 We took a trip to Utah for President's Day Weekend to visit people and do some shopping.  One of our main shopping trips was going mission shopping for Adam.  We ended up at the Missionary Mall in Orem and had a great time there.  The salesman who helped us had gone on his mission to Brazil as well so that was really helpful. 

First thing he had Adam do was to go over to the big map they had on the wall and put a pin in it in Vitoria, Brazil where he will be going on his mission.  Next he got a big shopping cart for Adam and then started down the suit isle.  Adam tried on several jackets until they found the right size for him and then picked the color he liked. 

Once we were done with jackets, it was on to pants and then on to ties (which Adam thought was the best part).  He picked some great ties then it was on to miscellaneous items like mosquito netting, towels and other important things.

 

After all of that it was time for him to try on shoes and socks.  He tried on several pairs before settling on two favorites.  Not to mention the socks with the extra padding on the bottom, Adam thought those were great.

Well, we had everything he needed, now he needed something to put it all in and carry around for two years.  We looked at a great suitcase set that we ended up getting free which was awesome.  I paid the bill and they loaded Adam up with all of his mission stuff and we left. 

It was so nice having salesmen help us who really knew what they were talking about having been on missions themselves as well as ours in particular who knew the area Adam was going to.  It was totally worth going to the Missionary Mall!