Dropping Sara Off at the MTC

Wednesday was a crazy day, but a very nice day as well. We woke up and finished packing up all of Sara's stuff and all of my family's stuff because they were leaving to drive back to Oregon right after dropping Sara off at the MTC. There were things scattered all over the house, but I don't think Sara forgot anything. The only thing I know that my family forgot was my sister Anna's coat, which isn't that big of a deal.

We drove down to a Greek restaurant in Provo to have lunch before Sara went into the MTC. Mom and Sara decided to use the bathroom before we ordered our food, and decided that if the bathroom was that disgusting it wasn't very likely that the kitchen was sanitary, so we left. We went to Tucano's instead, which was where Sara wanted to eat her last pre-mission meal. I don't think anybody was disappointed at the switch. Sara's friend Emily and our cousins Chase & Jenn & two of their kids came and ate with us. It was really nice spending time all together to say goodbye to Sara. We took a couple of pictures outside the restaurant (they'll be posted if I ever get copies) and then drove off to the MTC.

We squished 7 people into my parents' Vibe so we could all be there to say goodbye to Sara. The drop-off area has about 20 different stations to unload your stuff, and they make you drive down to the farthest available one. As we drove by the empty stations, all the elders waiting to help unload stuff were smiling and waving. Sara said she felt like a celebrity because everybody was waving at her. There was a really happy and exciting feeling. When we got to our station, everybody got out and hugged Sara, and then off she went into the MTC, with two elders carrying her luggage for her. (And mom didn't cry.)

As she was leaving and we were pulling away, Anna yelled "Bye Sara!" out the window, so she turned around and waved to us one last time. She looked excited and happy to be there. We'll see if she writes her perspective on that day for the blog, or if she jumps right into MTC life when she sends me her first letter.