2012.08.21

The missing email.  He tried to send it, but my long email address tripped him up.

Dear Home,

The MTC is incredible! I had no idea how much time would start to blur here. It doesn't feel like it's been a week since our last P-Day... It's been full though.

We got to go to the Temple last week and do sealings, -first time for all of the Elders in my district, so it was cool to be there for that experience for them. Personally, Sealings have always been my favorite. :) Anyway, looking forward to it again today.

 

As I mentioned, I joined choir here, and that's been great. Definitely one of the best stress relievers we have here. --Did you know we can't play music at the MTC? Rough... Definitely makes me appreciate hymns more. I might be singing at home more when I get back. We can pull up conference recordings while studying, but nothing we brought with us, and we can play anything in our rooms. It's good though. The spirit is still there.

 

Anyway, tangents. Our investigator last week was interesting. We finished teaching him Thursday I think. Definitely hard, but it's getting easier, and we're understanding more. We started a new one this week, and we're getting a second tomorrow. Teaching two at once, in Korean? Multiple lesson plans... Crazy. Good thing I've got the testimony bit down. Now we just need to learn how to teach and effectively communicate... Might be a little more tricky. Our teacher gave us a translation list of "How to begin teaching" in PMG. But in more basic terms so we can learn them faster. That'll be fun to work on. It came out to about 2 pages of English/Korean.

 

Anyway, no one wants to hear about the language. The spirit of this place it far more important. And it's legit. Not going to lie, I'm bone tired. From 6:30 to 10:30, there's no stopping, and your mind is under constant pressure of learning a new language. I've started having dreams in Korean, a little creepy. But even with the strain, the spirit doesn't go away. I'm pretty sure it's the only reason we're still functioning. And to me, that's pretty awesome.

 

No general authorities yet, but we get to watch talks sometimes, and we've seen a few really good ones by David A Bednar. "Characters of Christ," and "Recognizing the Spirit." Awesome talks. He gave them during devotionals here, so they might not have them online, but they're good.

 

I'm not sure what else there is to say. There's too much to cover everything, and I don't know which to choose. Some native Missionaries from Korean came in yesterday. I haven't had a chance to meet most of them, but it's going to be pretty awesome around here. SYL, everyday. They're not in our district, but they're in our zone, and they live on the same floor. Odds are we'll run into them a lot.

 

On a light note, my weight has changed a lot here. First week, I gained five pounds or something like that, but after eating a little better, I dropped it this week. Feels pretty good now. The lines for the salads and wraps are pretty long, but I've got a good system. Eat the salad while waiting in line, don't waste time. And of course, there's always studying. I've got a small notebook that I use to practice vocab here. Works great. But seriously, I've gotten pretty healthy here. =D

 

I hope no one is expecting anything super spiritual or amazing from these letters. I try to get that in my handwritten ones, since I have more time. Why rush the spirit, right? This is the light hearted stuff that I don't really have time for here. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of jokes around here. "Everyday?", Two handed fist pounding, stalkers, random stuff... Won't go into it.

 

I've only got about a few minutes left, so for now I'll go over logistics. Thanks for the letters, by the way! Love them, makes me happy. But for everyone but my Omoni (I think that's mom, no time for the Korean keyboard...), this is goodbye. Going strong, love you all, take care, keep the adversary on the run, I'll catch you later.

 

Elder Robarts

2012.08.28

Dear Home,

So apparently the email I sent last week didn't go through, sorry about that. But it should be in now, so this week you get double.

Life is pretty insane here. The language is getting easier, I'm actually picking up on some things these guys are saying now. Kind of creepy. The lessons are good too. We have two new investigators now, and they're as opposite as they come. One is the golden investigator who is already fairly willing to be baptized, the other is a guy who doesn't want to pray, and we've spent two lessons trying to understand why. I think we need to teach him more about God and Christ. He needs to know that they're real. And that they want him to communicate. Anyway, that's occupied a lot of my thoughts lately.

Other news, the new Korean district is pretty awesome. We've hung out a couple times, learned some new phrases, they're fun to talk to. And they're very patient about our Korean. It's pretty impressive. 

I think a lot of this will have to wait for this week's snail mail, there's never enough time here. But another fun thing that happened last week-- We got our first Apostle! Neil L. Andersen gave an excellent talk for President Monson's B-Day. That was pretty cool. He shared lessons he learned from Monson's life. I'll include them in the letter (not in much detail though).

About 13 min left. Thank you all for the letters you've been sending, they've been awesome here, even if I haven't had much time to respond to them. Just know that they're appreciated, and I'll try to write back when I can. My testimony has grown a lot out here. I hear some elders say that the MTC has really made them question their testimony, but mine has never felt stronger. When you're teaching in Korean and a phrase pops into your head that you've never even thought of before, it's hard to argue that the spirit isn't real, especially when that phrase was exactly what the investigator needed to hear. Granted, that's only happened once or twice, but it's all the more powerful because of it. This is a hard language. I've been cramming the grammar in the most, but this week I think I'll try to get my vocab up. I need to be able to recognize more of what the investigator is saying.

One form we learned yesterday is a beast though. You use it when quoting, saying that he said/commanded/asked/ etc. You've got to switch the verb form you use to plain form before you even add it, so when you're talking, that takes up a second more than you need just to figure out what you want to say. Petersen said it would feel like one of the hardest forms we'll learn. Gives me a lot of hope.

The days are different here. It's hard to remember from day to day. You'll notice this in my letters, but my spelling is getting shot out here. Every other word in english is getting more difficult for me. That'll be fun... The snail mail I'm working on now has a few of those. I hope that means my Korean is getting better...

But the Lord's work is definitely progressing. These Elders and Sisters I'm working with are incredible. I know we'll get this language. And the spirit will be with us.

So, for future letters. If you want me to write back about something, please have a section of the letter specifically for that, by the time I have time to write, it's hard to remember what you asked, and there's no time to re read. Thanks!

(Note to Mom, Joe: I haven't gotten the adapted for the mp3 player yet. Did it get sent there? Let me know, thanks!)

(Note to Debi: Thanks for the cookies! They were amazing! I'll try to write a note later. I'm out of time.)

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but snailmail will have to save the day. Hope this goes through.

~Elder Robarts

2012.08.24 snail mail scanned

A letter in the mail today! Since he did part of it in Korean and I don't know how to do that, I scanned the letter.  Here it is.  Can you read it?

Ok, that's pretty hard to read, isn't it? Here it is:

Dear Home,

Lots happening, here but the days are staritng to blur.  It doesn't feel like a week since last P day.

Since my last letter, we've taught our investigator quite a bit last week, and this week we started a new one.  How'd it go?  Kinda varies from lesson t lesson, every other day goes well, then we have a lesson where nothing we try to say makes sense.

Anyway, it's always a  surprise when the people here start speaking English.  Our investigator from week one started teaching us this week.  Fun fact, gospel terms like Faith, repentance, baptism... They don't know what that means in Korean. It's just like English.  Wasn't expecting that...  So, this week I've been studying alternative terms.  A prophet is a messenger of God, a testimony is a witness, faith is belief, that kind of thing. Makes the lessons go a lot smoother.

Anyway, fun times.  I'm doing well here.  It 's crazy here almost constantly, but I'm good.  And I'm starting to pick out bits and pieces of Korean when people talk. 

Some exciting news, Some native Korean speakers came in last night.  I haven't met most of them yet, but it's pretty cool.  SYL anyone? (I'm gonna die...)

The temple last week was incredible.  I'm really looking forward to it.  We did  sealings last time, and it was the first time for the other Elders of my district.  We've been going in a group a lot, but last week the (Korean word) wanted to do an endowment session, so it was just the guys.  We might do endowments today, though.  I still have some names to take through.

I'm beginning to love P days.  Still frantic, but it lets us take care of all those things we never have time for otherwise.

On a spiritual note, the Gospel is simple.
(4 lines of Korean)

You can't really sue more complex ideas when speaking another language.  I'm learning the grammar forms, but the ones that hit home with those you teach are the ones you can put your heart into.  The very foundation of your testimony.  To me that's pretty awesome.

-- lots my train my train of thought, when a computer opens up here, you jump on it.

Life is good though.  Scripture study is really different when you're doing it for someone else.  Preparing lessons ... very fulfulling.

I think I'll wrap up here though.  I've got some notes I want to write.
(Korean)
(signed in Korean)

2012.08.12 (snail mail paper letter)

Dear Home, [KOREAN]!

For the past couple of days I've been feeling bad for not being able to write more, but then I remembered I've only been here for four full days.  I'm still going to try, but there's not really much time here.

Good news, whatever we're doing, it's working.  Day 1, Holy cow our teacher isn't speaking English.  Day 2. we're teaching a lesson in Korean???  Day 3, That lesson was terrible. -- Praying was nice though.  Day 4, [all in KOREAN]!!!  Day 5, Thank goodness it's Sunday...

Seriously though, it's been good here.  We're already praying in Korean, and I've gotten comfortable with doing it without the cheat sheet  (I've been praying alot here.) We're bearing our testimonies too.  But I'll say this.  You appreciate prayer so much more when you have to think this much about whatever you say.

And when you pray for the gift of tongues in the language you are learning, it comes.  And mostly, it comes through love of the language and the people.  once you have that, things click.

My tongue even moves differently now.  I can feel Korean being different.  Pretty cool.  Wicked hard though, even with the spirit.

So my district- Elder Forbes, my companinon; Elder Quist, our new district leader and one of my apartment buddies; Elder Gerszeski, another missionary from our apartment - talks really fast in Korean; Elder Campbell, Elder Sills, Elder Elenbads, anoterh set from the room next to us; and Sster Bell, Sister Hunt, and Sister McKay.  10 in our district, plus two others. 30 new Korean missionaries when I came in, plus the 30 that were already here.  Definitely not alone here.

As for life, it's hectic, but amazing.  As I mentioned, the third day out here (Friday) we got to teach our first investigator.  ---in Korean.

Not going to lie, it wasn't very good.  But the prayer went well. (Iwas pretty excited about praying.  I've carried around that card until it's almost falling apart - slight exageration.)

The second lesson was incredible though.  We remembered practically everything.  And it's cool to see how things went.  He accepted a BoM (Book of Mormon) and committed to read it.  MTC, yeah, but I was still happy.  I mean, Korean.

08/13/12
Anyway, it's late, I don't have much time to write.

Some important notes, we walked to the temple Sunday, that was great, and I went to choir practice here, and it was really cool.

(There's a small chance I'll sing in General Conference.  = D )

Today, more Korean, we did a service assignment, taught our investigator again, and it looks like  I'll have to continue this later.

08/14/12

So,  yesterday was pretty hectic -- that's kind of normal here.

But we only had a little time to work on our lesson.  So we had to improv most of it.   Luckily, we remembered a few critical vocab words, so we were able to get the point across with some broken Korean.

I;m so looking forward to the temple today.  I've missed it so much...

I hope everything is going well there.  It's incredible to think that I last saw you all a week ago. 

The Lord knows all time.  And I'm out of mine.  Laundry is done.

[KOREAN again]!

~Elder Robarts

Mission Mom answers questions about packages

I wrote to Sister Furniss, wife of the president of the Korea Daejeon Mission, asking questions about sending packages.  This is her response.

Sister Robarts

I look forward to having your son join us here in Korea. We are so grateful for the wonderful experience that they have in the MTC and how hard they work on and learn the language.

 

To answer your question on packages....frequent would be one per month, some may receive a package only once every four or five  months. I think a good average is a box every two to three months. Postage is quite expensive to Korea, so that limits the number of boxes we receive. The best way to send packages is by using the flat rate boxes from the US Postal Service.  95% of our boxes come that way   It takes about 2 weeks to arrive at the mission office, then about 2 more days to continue on to your missionary.

 

Since the packages are not opened here, I do not often see what is sent.  Korea has just about every thing you can get back home, just not the brands you love.  If he has a favorite treat cereal  or candy bar.  Sometimes that brand can be purchased here, sometimes not   For example,we can buy Snickers, or Twix here....but I would love a good old Butterfinger.Your missionaries favorite foods seem to be high on the list. Our children always send their father licorice. They receive things like brownie mixes, mac & cheese mixes, cake mixes,    

 

We send the boxes directly to the missionary at Christmas. Koreans to do celebrate Christmas in a big way...so your gift could possible include a companionship gift.  A super small tree or a Christmas sock to hang in their apartment.  If he has an American companion at Christmas, they will probably receive about the same.

 

At the mission Christmas party everyone receives a gift from Pres. Furniss and myself 

I hope this answered your questions.  

 

Have a great day

Sister Furniss
 

Week 1

Dear Home,

I've got exactly 27 minutes to write this, so I'm hoping I'll be able to get to everything I need to. First off, thanks for all of the letters you've sent while I've been here, I've loved every one of them. And thanks for keeping the emails fairly short, it's great not to have to worry about having time to read them. You guys already know this, but it's really helpful for the longer letters to be sent through DearElder, since I have more time to read them usually.

But enough of that. I wish I had more time to write the responses that I want to, but I'm stretched pretty thin right now. When I'm not studying the scriptures or preparing for the next activity, I'm cramming as much Korean in as possible. But I am hoping to get some written today. I've got a letter home that I'm working on that has a brief summary of my first couple days here, but it's been crazy!

Day one: Teacher only spoke Korean.

Day two: We find out that we're teaching an investigator in Korean the next day

Day three: The lesson was pretty awful, but we got some things across I think. And the best part is, we learned how to pray!

Day four: I begin to see the gift of tongues. There's a real power to praying for the gift of tongues in the language that you're trying to learn. We teach again, and this time it goes ten times better. We learned how to bear our testimonies, and while we may not have said everything right, I know the spirit was there. (By the way, Koreans read like the WIND. We had hime read the First Vision... Crazy.)

Day Five: Thank goodness for Sunday. Not going to lie, it was still pretty crazy, but we had a few moments of quiet. That helped a lot. We also got to take a walk around the Temple. That was incredible to me. After that, a few of us went to choir (I'm going to see if I can make it for General Conference. ;) ). We attended a fireside that night, and then watched a talk by David A. Bednar. Characters of Christ, it's a really good one. He mentioned buying a cheap fresh copy of the Book of Mormon and reading it with a single question in mind, marking any scripture that applies. I got a mini BoM the yesterday, so I've been trying to find ways to be the best missionary I can be. There's a surprisingly large amount of wisdom on that topic in the BoM. Shocking, no?

Day Six: We taught our investigator again, but this time we didn't have enough time to study, so we couldn't go in with a script of prepared responses. To be honest though, that was almost a blessing. We did a little more charades (sp?) than usual, but the Spirit was able to work so much more. We asked him to read the BoM, and write down questions he has for us (so we can actually figure out what he says...), and taught him how to pray. He didn't feel comfortable praying in front of us then, but I asked if he might during our next visit, and he seemed to consider it. That was exciting to me.

So, now's P Day. Still crazy, but I'm doing alright. The language is getting easier, things are clicking. We say a phrase, and I'm beginning to see how it is broken apart and put together. The spirit is there, even if we're only teaching fellow members playing a role. I still don't know if that sister from the first day was a member or not, but I heard that some of them weren't. Regardless, it taught me a lot. One day, I'll be able to speak like that in Korean. I'll be able to express the love of the Savior in a way they'll understand. It's all up to the Spirit, but I'm giving Him the best possible vehicle to work with as I can.

So, that's my life. Pretty insane, no? I've got a ton of letters to write. I'll probably only be able to write home on a regular basis, but there are a few notes I want to make. We'll see what I have time for.

By the way, sorry for the short summary, hopefully I'll be able to send more later. But it's really not the main point. Life is busy, but it's the things I've learned that I want to share. The Gospel is real. The Gift of Tongues is real.

Jonun Bogumur Saranghasimneeda! It feels so weird to write it with Roman letters. I haven't done that in days... Korean looks beautiful to me now. I learned that asking for the gift of tongues doesn't give immediate understanding. It helps you love the language, and the people who speak it. When you have that, it's so much easier to learn. And the knowledge comes at an alarming rate. I love being able to pray now without using a cheat sheet. And to be able to share my testimony... I love everything about this place.

So, keep me posted. How's home? I felt terrible for not being able to write more, but then I realized I've only been here one week. It feels like I've been here so much longer. Our time is the Lord's. I'll do everything I can, but I've seen that He can do more with it than I. Today, I'll try to write. But for now, my time is up.

Saranghasaeyo! (That's actually a much higher form than I'm supposed to use, but I can't remember the other one.)

Love you all!

~Elder Robarts

First Letter Home!!!

He didn't date it, but it was obviously written his first night there.  The letter arrived Monday, August 13, 2012

Dear Home,

I can't believe how fast time goes here.  From 2pm to 10:30pm, everything is a vivid blur.

It started like like lightening though.  I get here and they take me to our first class. Not one word of English.  No one told me that would happen. But it was awesome. =D

I'll be honest, it was a bit stressful at first, especially trying to figure out what our teacher, Elder Peterson, was saying.  But we're learning fast.   After language study and introduction, we went to a Sacrament Meeting kind of thing.  or fireside?  I'll learn what it's called later.  Maybe zone conference.

After that we had dinner, unpacked, and went to "teaching experience."  That was pretty amazing.  The second investigator they introduced us to was the one that struck me the most.

So, they had it set up like a massive teaching lesson, and we'd all add comments and try to answer questions, that kind of thing.

But the second sister, who shall remain nameless, triggered something in me.

I don't know how to explain it.  She talked about how so many people she cared about left before their time, and it was hard to believe that God loves her.  She hated feeling alone.

And it just hit me.  I had to get up.  The words didn't even feel like mine, until I started to bear my testimony.   I told her that it was because God loved her that she knew these people.  And while it's always hard, she's not alone.  God will never leave.  And there are still many people who love her.

I bore testimony of the family of our wards, and told he why we were all there.  I only knew this sister for a little while, but I quickly came to love her.

The spirit was strong, I'll just say that.  There were maybe sixty of us there, and at the end of my testimony, the sister was crying, I was crying, and about a third of the rest were, too.

And this was just to help prepare us. It was real though. I never thought I'd feel something like that Day 1 of the MTC.  I know what it feels like to be a representative of Jesus Christ now.  To have everything you say carry power,and know that it isn't you.

MTC, let's do it.

After that, we got some orientation, settled in, forgot most of what they told us.  But it was good. My companion rocks though.  Elder Forbes, a great people person, very receptive to the people and the spirit, and he really wants to follow the mission rules.  Score!

Speaking of which, I should go to bed.  I miss you all.  I can't wait to hear from all of you.  I get to email Tuesday, that's our P-day, but hopefully this'll be there by then.

Just know, I'm alive, I'm stoked, and the spirit hasn't stopped surging since I got here.

One of the best parts, just to sum things up. 

Singing "Army of Helaman" with the words "we are the Lord's missionaries" ptu to every verse.  Nothing is cooler.

Anyway, I wish I could write more, to all of you, but mission rules.  I'll get this in the mail tomorrow. 

Love you all!
~ Elder Robarts

I wonder what he's doing

Are you, like me (Mom), wondering what is happening with our missionary? 

On the blog Mormon Mission Prep Jimmy tells us about the MTC.

Here we have Sister Newman's letter home about her first days at the MTC.

This article in June 2000 The New Era, the LDS magazine for youth, was written in the "old days" when families could go to an orientation meeting with their missionary before separating.  Now it is a very quick, almost surgical, process at the curb.  The missionary is whisked away before many tears have time to be shed.  I barely got my last hug.  It is probably easier for the missionary this way, as they are immediately moving forward into their new life with a new friend at their side. Other than that, this will give us some idea of our guy's new life.

If you miss him, write to him.  Encouraging, uplifting, friendly letters.   Here is some good advice on letter writing.

You can write to him for free while he is at the MTC at DearElder.com and for just the cost of postage when he is out in the field. 

Into a new life

Wednesday, August 8, 2012 - Elder Benjamin Robarts reported to the MTC.

We took it easy in the morning.  Did some address checking.  A little bit of on-line time. 

Isn't he handsome?!

We went to McDonalds for (a later than we realized) breakfast.  Then we visited the Jordan River Temple.

Before going in, Benjamin looked for coins in the fountain.He and a friend or two have a running gag about coins in temple fountains, so Benjamin looks for a coin (that he can reach), takes it out, and leaves a different coin.

 

We were pretty relaxed until we realized we were looking at a California timed clock and it was an hour later than we thought.  Instead of getting to the MTC early, we were *gasp* maybe 15 minutes late!

The drop-off was pretty controlled and quick.   

This is the "guard house" in front of the MTC.  They put a purple sticker on the window and let up the gate.  Just a short distance in, a flock of "host missionaries" waited.  Somewhat like the seagulls in "Finding Nemo" - "Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!"  They were calling "I've got it!" "I've got it!"  Here's Benjamin with the winner of our round. 

The host missionary grabs the new guy, grabs his luggage, and gets him moving almost immediately.  Barely time for a hug.  Trying to cut down on the weeping mothers, I think. As they walked away, I could see Elder Benjamin Robarts looking and moving forward eager to begin this wonderful new adventure of service to his God.

Good-bye for two years!

note from DearElder.com

DearElder.com is set up to make it easier for you to reach your missionary, but missionaries can not use DearElder.com to write home. Missionaries currently in the MTC, most domestic missions, and some foreign missions, get 30 minutes of e-mail time a week to write home. We suggest that you write your missionaries through us so that when their P-day comes and they have access to a computer, they are not spending the whole half hour reading your mail. If they already have your letters in hand, they can spend that whole time writing home to you! 

DearElder.com

Benjamin's Last Day as a Civilian

After shopping  at Mr Mac   - a two piece suit, winter coat (yes, I know we said we were going to have him wait and get that in Korea, but the sales lady was good - I am pretty sure it is the same sales lady who helped us when we were shopping for David's mission -  and so is the coat - good that is (I hope!), not the same as David's.) gloves, a 2nd pair of Eccos (good shoes), a laundry bag - is that it? I think so- we (Benjamin, Kent and Melanie Larson, and I (Mom) had lunch from Chick-fil-A at the food court of City Creek Center.  (That was some sentence!)

Kent stayed at City Creek Center to people watch.  Benjamin, Melanie and I went to Temple Square.

Benjamin and the cut away model of the Salt Lake Temple in one of the Visitor's Centers

Benjamin and the Christus statue in the other Visitor's Center

Mom and Benjamin on the roof of the Conference Center

Mom's good friend and our hostess, Melanie, Mom and Benjamin on the roof of the Conference Center with the Salt Lake Temple behind 

Benjamin with the bust of President Thomas S. Monson, prophet and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Our tour guide Dean James or James Dean? with his favorite sculpture of Christ

A sculpture depicting Joseph Smith's First Vision 

on the back we see that Heavenly Father has His arm around His Son, Jesus Christ

Benjamin taking pictures of portraits of First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Here in the conference center you can look across to the mirror on the other side and even take your own picture

Mom, Benjamin, our guide, and our friend Melanie

Benjamin in The Book of Mormon: Another Testimony of Christ gallery

Benjamin and one of his friends have a running gag about coins in the fountains at temples. Benjamin takes a coin out and puts another one in.  He gives the coin from the temple to his friend.

Standing in front of the Larson's (our hosts) home we see a chapel half a block away.  They do not attend there, however.  Their ward has outgrown this building.  They meet in a building about half a mile away and another ward meets here. A couple of wards, actually, I think.

Benjamin getting out his clothes for tomorrow and putting away his Mr Mac purchases.

After dinner (pizza) Benjamin played Dominion with our friends AJ and Stephanie Larson

We had telephone family prayer and scripture read with his brothers Joseph and Andrew back home followed by Joseph coaching Benjamin on something about playlists on his MP3 player. 

Thus ended Benjamin's last day as a civilian.

The Last Weekend in California

Saturday Benjamin and I (Mom) went to the Oakland Temple.  It has been a wonderful last couple of months going to the Sacramento Temple together every Wednesday evening.  This was our last temple trip together before he leaves.  (Well, maybe not.  We might - probably- do a session at the Jordan River Temple Wednesday morning before he goes into the MTC right after lunchtime.)

After doing a session and some sealings, Benjamin embarked on a quest stemming from a conversation he and a friend had had on their Oakland temple trip Wednesday.  (The Sacramento Temple closed for maintenance) He was determined to find a coin in the fountain or stream at the temple..

Benjamin left off penny hunting to go to the aid of a car fire across from the temple. 

He found a penny - but in the grass, not in the water.  Does that count?  It had to do.  He gave the penny to his friend after church.  As she went to the car, she dropped the penny which promptly rolled out of sight!  One young lady and three young men spent several minutes hunting for the penny under and around three  parked cars.  When almost all had lost hope, Andrew found it.  All was well.

Benjamin had trouble tearing himself away after church.  Some lengthy farewells were said.

After Benjamin was set apart with all his local siblings and family in attendance, we had dinner with his sisters.  Waffle bar.

He played with nieces and nephew.  He loves kids, especially these.  It is going to be hard not to be able to interact as freely with the children while on his mission.

He played with his sisters and Andrew. ("And It Came To Pass" Benjamin won, I think).  He talked on the phone with Sariah (who lives two states away).

 Finally, the mean mother said it was time to go. Things to finish up at home and it's a really good idea to get some sleep before driving all day. 

Some good, loving, tearful hugs.  He is thinking of preserving the mascera marks on his shirt.  His suit jacket will cover them.