He's Glad They Called Him on a Mission.

          For those of you who didn't know, a few months ago, my brother Eric was called to serve a mission in the Japan, Fukuoka mission (I love Japanese because it's so easy to spell haha)...speaking Japanese of course.
          Tuesday, May 31st Albert and I left our humble (sometimes) abode and drove up to the Salt Lake City airport to pick up my little younger brother, Eric.

           Isn't he so happy looking?!  :)  The first thing he said to me was "wow!  you've gotten BIG!!" (he hadn't seen me since April...when I didn't look like I had stuffed a basket ball under my shirt).  He happily told us about his flight and how he used his Spanish skills to listen in on the conversation of an older Brazilian couple who happened to be in the same boarding group as he was.  Apparently they were assigned the seats right in front of his and as they were disembarking from the plane in Salt Lake, he offered them a Book of Mormon.  He was very disappointed to find out that they already had one, but was happy that they were for sure going to see temple square.  He never found out if they were LDS or not, but he said that he was pretty sure they weren't.
          Anyways, he claimed that he wasn't hungry, but Albert and I began his training in eating even though one may not be particularly hungry (which apparently missionaries have to do all the time...we were glad to help) by giving him his first experience at Cafe Rio (Albert was very surprised Eric had never been to Cafe Rio before...haha).  When we got back to the car, we noticed some gum stuck to our tire, so I took a picture of it...cuz it looked cool.

          After we got home, Ben came over and he and Albert began telling mission adventures and giving advice.  This was really fun for me because Albert doesn't usually just share mission stories. :)  After a bit, I had to drop Albert off up on BYU campus (usually he'd drive the scooter, but he left it up there over the weekend and we hadn't gone to get it yet) so that he could go to his class in Salt Lake (luckily he has a group that he drives with so he only has to actually drive up once every other week).  That night we went to my Grandma Evans's house for ice cream.  (yummm!)  Mike and Petra and their girls came and Paul and Jaelyn and of course Grandma, Johanna and Mary Ann.

 Paul had fun putting a box on his head and scaring Kaylee and Taylor...and amusing the rest of us.

 Kaylee found two beautiful leaves that she really wanted me to take a picture of.

 Taylor decided she wanted to take a picture with the leaves too. :)  Luckily Kaylee let her take a picture with them lol.

 This was grandma's idea haha.

 Petra, Mike, Eric, Me, Ben, Taylor and Kaylee on grandma's porch with Eric.

          At one point during the night, Taylor came over to Uncle Paul (whom she kept calling "grandpa" haha) and showed him a snail.  Uncle Paul took the snail and plopped it in his mouth.  Jaelyn was not amused.  Luckily he didn't keep it in there very long.  I didn't get a picture of it.
          We finally got home around 10 and Eric (being a good missionary) got ready for bed (he got to sleep on our very soft couches).  Albert got home about 15 minutes after us.  While Eric and I both were asleep well before 11 (eric probably before 10:30...but I'm not sure), Albert stayed up late watching a show on his laptop with headphones in (which served to make it so that I couldn't hear the show and he couldn't hear me snoring...which apparently I do more than I thought I did...ah well)
          We all woke up at 6:30 in the morning.  (which was VERY early for me, but I gotta get used to it since I have class at 7 every day in the fall)...I made eggs for breakfast and we ate and then Albert went off to campus to take a test (he thought the testing center opened at 8, but it really opened at 10 (when he had class) so he had to miss dropping Eric off...bummer).  While we waited for 1pm to get closer, Eric and I decided to take a little trip to the Provo cemetery to visit Grandpa Evans and say hi and happy early birthday and happy memorial day.  We then dropped some stuff off in the family storage unit (which was further down the road than Grandpa, but since we were in the area, I figured I might as well get the stuff out of the back of my car.  A little while later, eric and I went to pick Ben up (his scooter broke the night before) and then came back to my house.  We played a couple rounds of skip-bo...(to break the tie between Eric and Ben from the games from the night before)...I won 1 game all out...the second game was when ben and I were playing for 2nd...despite losing a lot, I also laughed a lot...hard enough that I was sore afterwards.
          Around 12:20, Grandma Evans came over and together, we drove the the BYU Creamery on 9th so that Eric could say goodbye to a friend.  After that, we drove up to the MTC.

 Happy brothers in the back seat

          It was kind of funny because the guard at the gate thought that Ben was the one going in...and while Ben would have GLADLY taken Eric's place...we let Eric go instead.  I love places where you can just drive in and feel the Spirit there without even having to try.  That's what the MTC was like...I'd been there before, but that was just for picking up laundry.  This was my first experience dropping someone off.  It was really nice because they had a whole bunch of missionaries lined up along the sidewalk and as Eric got out they were all enthusiastic and welcoming and happy.  Unfortunately, they were not allowed to take our picture for us...ah well.

 Eric hugging Grandma

 Walking over to Ben and I.

 :')

Eric and Grandma again.

          I'm proud to say that I did NOT cry (though I did tear up very badly haha...and that doesn't mean that I don't still tear up when I think of my little brother all grown up and going away to Japan for almost 2 years).  Eric was no help...as I was hugging him goodbye he said "Just think about when it's Johnathan leaving" (almost makes me cry right now...I'm going to be a mess when it actually happens lol).  And then he was gone...well...we were gone and he was behind us and walking further into the MTC.
          Right after we drove out of the MTC, Albert called and said that he was done with his test...so he just barely missed dropping Eric off.  No worries, if we're still in/near Provo in 4 years when Josh and Brian go in, we're going to make sure he's there haha.
          Anyways.  Yep.  He's gone...While he was here we reminisced a little about when we were younger.  Since we're two years apart, we planned that we'd go into the MTC at the same time...my mission is a little different right now though...Even though we aren't going in at the same time (I'll be going in in several years when Albert and I's children are all grown up), he's still going to be a WONDERFUL missionary.  I can't wait to see what interesting experiences the Lord has in store for him. :)