November 6th - Elder Milne Goes to the MTC

Elder Dallin Milne was set apart as a missionary Tuesday evening in our home by President Bangerter.  He received a beautiful blessing with many wonderful promises.  The Spirit was so strong!  Afterward we all went to Bucca De Beppo for dinner.  Dallin is officially a missionary!  We woke up early the next morning and headed to Provo, Utah to be at the MTC by 1:15pm.  We stopped at Costa Vida for lunch and then headed toward the MTC.  Blaine suggested we stop somewhere to take some pictures before we dropped Elder Milne off.  Somehow we found the BYU baseball field.  We took some great photos and then headed to the MTC.  Here they are:

 Elder Milne and his two best friends (brothers)!

 Dallin and his proud Dad!

 

 

Dallin and his loving Mother!

 

At 1:05 pm we headed to the MTC.  We all put on our bravest faces!  Elder Milne was so excited, and was not even emotional at all.  It reminded his mother of his first day of Kindergarten in downtown Louisville, KY at Coleridge-Taylor Montessori School.  It was an all day program, and Dallin was more than ready.  He was a minority in his class, but he didn't mind at all, and probably didn't even notice.  He ran right in and checked everything out.  Not wanting to dampen his spirits his mother held back her tears and tried to act excited as he showed her all the wonderful friends, teachers, and activities.  As soon as the door closed behind his mom she burst into tears.  And so it was at the MTC.  No one cried until he was out of sight and we were heading south to St. George.  The tears only lasted a few minutes because we truly are so excited for Dallin.  He has an incredible adventure ahead of him, and there is no place on earth we would rather him be at this time.  Here are a few pictures we managed to take at the MTC:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there he goes!

 

 

I don't think as a mother I have ever experienced such a myriad of emotions.  I could not get my heart and head to agree on how I was to be feeling at that point in time.  It has been 18 1/2 years of raising this boy, and now he is finally doing what he has been preparing himself to do for his entire life, for this I was elated.  He was worthy and more than willing to go!  Isn't this what every mother wants for her son - to be doing what he truly desires?  I was happy, but the maternal instinct of wanting to keep him close, safe, and in my constant care began to take over.  It was all I could do to not holler STOP, WAIT, DON'T GO. But fortunately I was able to restrain myself. We are so proud of you Elder Milne! We love you!