Elder Jared!

We got this cute picture from Jared with his letter this week. He looks very happy!

Pictures from Jared

Here are a few pictures Jared sent home from the MTC. He didn't tell us who any of these people are, but we love getting pictures.

He left the MTC on June 14th, it was so fun for Blake and I to talk to him on the phone! We love getting his emails and hearing how he's doing! 

With President and Sister Clark in front of the St. Louis Temple

Jared is serving in O'Fallon, MO, it is about 1/2 hour northwest of St. Louis. It is a residential/agricultural area. 

I had a wonderful surprise last night! I got a picture text of Jared! I was so surprised when a picture of Jared popped up from a number I didn't recognize. He was on splits with a Brother Gonthier, who is the High Priest Group Leader in the ward where Jared is serving. They were waiting for his companion to finish his visits, so Brother Gonthier took Jared to Dairy Queen for some ice cream. What a fun surprise to have a picture of him pop up on my phone!

This was the message that came with the picture..."Dear Sister Purcell, I am having a DQ ice cream with a terrific new Elder. You might know him. We love him and he's doing great." I texted back, I have to admit with tears running down my cheeks, "Wow thank you, whoever you are! Tell him I love him!" Then he texted me telling me who he was and what he and Jared had been doing. Totally made my day, or for that matter many days to come!

Mission Tracker

I found this mission tracker online, so I decided to do something a little different for Jared. I really like it!

Picture of Maden

I love that Celia sends pictures and videos of Maden! It's the highlight of my day when I get a new one.

Elder Purcell

Today was a great day! We took Jared to the Missionary Training Center in Provo. We are so proud of him! Making this decision to serve a mission has taken extreme courage and we admire him! He will be in the MTC for 3 weeks, then will head for St. Louis, Missouri.

Before being set apart.

Having one last teeth brushing party.

Loading the car.

Driving to Provo

Lunch at Good Woods

Killing a little time at the mall.

Pictures by the Provo Temple.

The drop off! We love you Jared!

To Texas and back...

4:00am on May 14 found Blake, Randy, Jared and I loading up in the Red Pickup and Brian's green car heading for Fort Worth, Texas.

Here's a view of the trailer (which is all loaded with Brian and Celia's belongings) from the green car. We were somewhere in Wyoming.

We drove for 14+ hours and made it to Raton, New Mexico. We were also travelling with two animals. We were the rides for Ralphy the dog and Perry the cat! We stayed in a "Pet Friendly" Motel that night. We left Raton at 6:00 am on May 15.

Finally reached Texas...too bad we still had eight hours of travel!

As we neared Amarillo, a tire on the trailer lost some tread, so we had to stop and change the tire.

We got to Brian &  Celia's apartment at about 6:30 pm.  We unloaded some essential items and went to bed.  Brian and Celia were glad to get their bed and couches, since they had been "camping out in their apartment" for five days.

We had to park the trailer quite a ways from their apartment so we didn't block the driveway into the apartment complex.

My job was to keep Maden out of the way. Such a hard job, but someone had to do it.

We finished unloading the trailer on Monday, and the guys bought a new tire.  Brian had to go to orientation every day, so we went to Weatherford to meet him when he was done.

Walking into the hospital.

In the garden near the hospital.

Tuesday, the guys and Celia played tennis again and we did some shopping and went to the Fort Worth Stockyards. They have a cattle drive down the street, that was kind of fun.

Maden watching tennis.

Maden's a happy shopper!

The cattle drive, those are some long horns!

Waiting.

On Wednesday, Celia and I went to a play group at a park with some gals from their new ward. Then we went to a couple of nice big malls.

Swinging at the park.

Maden loves to play with his stroller.

Any time Maden can, he tries to buckle buckles.

He got to ride in this fun little car.

He and I got to ride the Merry go round!

Thursday morning found us back in the Red pickup heading back home. Not too much fun to leave my kids and grandson there!

At just about the same spot outside of Amarillo, we had more car trouble. This time it was the turbo hose coming unclamped. It was an easy fix and we were on the road again.

We drove to Firestone, CO (just a little north of Denver) and stayed there for the night.

We had to drive through fog and snow in Wyoming, but we made it home safe and sound, but with kind of heavy hearts.