The day Winston became an official missionary!

Here is our handsome Winston right before he was set apart.
I cannot even explain to you how wonderful this night was.
(Unless you've you've been to one before. Then you have an idea.)
As we walked into the Stake President's office the spirit was SO strong that all 10 of us were brought to tears.
Tears of joy, and pure love for eachother, especially for Winston.
But most of all tears of gratefulness to our Heavenly Father and Savior for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and our knowledge and testimonies that we have of missionary work.
And that for the next to years our Winston's responsibility was to serve the Lord with all his heart and in return not only would he be blessed but we would also.
Winston has been preparing for this day for so long and we could feel his love and devotion to Heavenly Father and that he was worthy and ready to serve.
And we couldn't be prouder.
Our Stake President, President Carpenter, is a dear friend of the family who has known Winston for a long time.
He talked to us for a while giving lots of good advice. (He's sent out 5 missionaries)
He just sent out his 5th, Caleb, whom we all pretty much consider a brother.
He told us how hard it was to have Caleb leave and how he broke down that night and has just started to recover. (He's been out 3 weeks)
We were like, "Oh really." When does Caleb land in Trinidad?"
He looks up at the clock and says, "In about 5 minutes."
We just all busted up and were like sounds like you're doing better!
Anyway had to share that. (Probably only funny if you were there.)
Winston's blessing was one of the most incredible blessings I think I've ever heard.
He was blessed with health and safety and assurance that his family would be fine back home.
He was told how proud his Heavenly Father is of him and how much He loves him.
He was blessed to have a very good relationship with his mission president who was already preparing him to come. That he knew Winston and already loved him very much. And was already praying about where to assign him and whom his companion should be.
The part that stood out the most I think was when the stake president's voice got really loud as he said that Winston's testimony would be so powerful that the people who saw him bear it would see a fire in eyes and that they would not be able to deny of its truthfulness.
What an incredible blessing for Winston and for our family to hear.
We know Winston has so much to offer the people in Atlanta and can't wait for him to share his experiences with us.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true.
And he knows that with every fiber in his being or he wouldn't be doing this.
And let's face it, we wouldn't be letting him do it either.

The family with Elder Winston Farr!
(In case your are wondering where our cute Olivia is. She home snug in her crib being babysat by my best friend's mom.)

As you can see we left the packing until the very last minute. Literally.
So this is the family trying to get him all organized. And friends saying their goodbyes.

For those of you who know Winston, know that he loves Mountain Dew.
(He's tried to go off it the past month. And he's done well.)
But I made apple dumplings for dessert that have the special ingredient of Mountain Dew!