Rob's cute younger sister, Orlean just left in the middle of November on her mission to the Philippines Quezon City North Mission where she is learning the Tagalog language. Yeah, we couldn't really pronounce it either. :) Right after she submitted her papers, she met a man who was pretty much everything she was looking for in a spouse, so it made her decision really difficult and she didn't fully decide if she should go on her mission or just get married until like a week and a half before she was scheduled to go into the MTC.
The week she left, we had alot of family things going on to help her get ready on time. (She procrastinated almost all of her shopping until she knew if she was going to go or not.) But she go it all done and soon departed on her new adventure. She was set apart the night before and almost all of Rob's mom's family was there with the exception of Rob, Carl, and Chris who all had to work. It was a special experience and we learned not to turn the floor over to Rob's dad to talk or you will be sitting there FOREVER joining him through a trip down memory lane... (What can you expect from and 90 something year old man?) :)
The morning that she entered the MTC, the whole family (but my brother in law Chris) met for lunch at of course Chuck-A-Rama. Seriously, this family has an obsession with this restaurant. She wanted everyone to take her to the MTC but each missionary is limited to only 1 vehicle, so we settle for a family dinner instead. After dinner, we took a few bon voyage pictures, and luckily we had a few generous food enthusiast walking by who we roped into taking a group shot for us.
(Orlean is the second from the end of the left)
After our family photo shoot, all of Rob's brothers and sisters, and parents piled into one vehicle to drop her off at the MTC where the rest of us crashed Carl and Mollie's house until the rest of the family returned with there red eyes and tear streaked faces. Yes we all cried, even most of the men. :)
I am so happy for the example that Orlean is setting for the family. Yes, most of Rob's family has converted into our church, however, I believe that her example will encourage all of us to re-evaluate our own testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The example that she is setting for my children and for my nieces and nephews hasn't gone unnoticed. I know that Rob will treat missionaries differently now. He started taking the discussions again right after his brother Joe was baptized in May - but he just recently scared off the sister missionaries yet again I am guessing because they haven't called or stopped by for a while to schedule another appointment. This time was different because he would pray openly about joining the church almost every day and he never tried preaching to the missionaries, well almost never. :) There is progress made but it just isn't quite the right time I guess.
Yes, we will miss Orlean for the 18 months that she is gone, but I know our family will benefit from her service, and that she is following the path that our Heavenly Father has in store for her. She will return as a spiritual giant, and will be able to help the family even more to answer questions and share the gospel to our loved ones.
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