Called to Serve

Today my nephew entered the MTC (Missionary Training Center). He is going to be serving in the Indiana Indianapolis Mission.

He is my sister's youngest child. Her baby. I think my sister is having a bit of a hard time. She knows this is the right thing for him, but it is her baby. Right now her daughter is serving a mission in Argentina also. Talk about how can something so good and right can feel so bad. I talked to my nephew for a few minutes last night and then my kidlets got to talk to him. To them 2 years seems like such a long time. To me 2 years goes by way too fast. After Big J got off the phone he realized that by the time Derek gets home he will be a deacon -- that is crazy!It is very strange to me that my sister who is not even 7 years older than me is sending her baby on a mission and I am still changing diapers. She had babies in her early 20's and I spent my 30's having my family. My kids think of her kids as more of aunts and uncles than cousins, but even with the age difference they are close, closer than they are to some cousins that are their same age. I think that comes from the fact that we try to see each other at least once a year and the last few years we have seen a lot of each other, a lot in a good way. That makes me happy! This is a picture of three of my nephews.

Josh (Dereks big brother, ok older brother), Derek, and Elder Angle who is serving in the Idaho Pocatello Mission (which is the mission my sister lives in. How cool is that.)