Missionary Training Center

The morning Alex went into the MTC we had French Toast Strata- a Talbot family favorite for breakfast. It was nice to eat one last meal together with all five of us together (which is hard to come by these days). Till we took Alex's bags out to the car, we were stuffing boxed juices and fruit snacks into any place they'd fit. Gotta love diabetes! We said a few quick goodbyes before we left the house- which may not have been a good idea considering we were taking a last family picture after that. The drive to the MTC was filled with funny jokes and memories.
When we got to the MTC, Alex dropped off his luggage, then got signed in and got his missionary tag, complete with his 'noob patch' as Alex called it. Following tradition, mom attached his tag, and that's when the tears began to flow! He was officially a missionary! His tag was in Spanish! We took a few more pictures, then were ushered into THE room. You all know which room we're talking about. They showed us a video that was made probably when mom and dad were in the MTC, and had a special announcement that due to swine flu, and until further notice, there would be no hand shaking at the MTC. Isn't that crazy? After the video the MTC President spoke to the group, we sung 'Called to Serve' (and by then everyone had really lost it), said a prayer, and then they told us to say our goodbyes- missionaries out one door, families out the other. It was such a bittersweet moment for all of us. We were so excited about the great journey he was about to embark on, but to know that this was the last time for two years you could hug Alex was really rough. We all hugged him two or three times, then watched him follow the other missionaries out the door.
And yes, we all cried the whole way out of the MTC.