The MTC, by Soren

In honor of Sam's two month mark as a missionary, I'm sharing this sweet paper Soren wrote about dropping him off at the Missionary Training Center. Soren was given a school assignment to share a summer experience. His teacher marked him down a bit because she felt he could have tied things together with a little more information. I can see how someone who wasn't there might be kind of confused, but I was there and I think he got it just right! I'm pretty sure it will make you smile. And maybe it will leave you feeling just a little bit melancholy, too. {We've been missing Sam a lot lately!!}

The MTC, by Soren Stowell
   We drove up, Sam got out, a guy said, "Thanks for your child!" And we left. Yep. Go in, no hugs, go out. End of story. Good bye for 2 years. Headed to Mesa, Arizona.
   Okay, maybe that wasn't exactly how it happened. We gave hugs before we left from Denny's. Once we got to the MTC, Sam got out, with all the kids staring out windows crying, sat down, buckled up, and left.
   Sometimes we get an extra spoon because we forget he's gone. It's not the same not having an older brother to go nuts around. With Sam gone, it isn't the same.
   Sam's doing great on his mission. We e-mail him every Monday. We hear great things from him. We all feel better when we know he's OK.

{In case you're wondering, the "extra spoon" story happened right after we dropped Sam off. We headed to BYU campus and got ice cream at the Creamery. I grabbed eight spoons before realizing that there were only seven of us... It made me cry.}

Great job, Soren. :) And you're right. We really do feel better when we know Sam's OK.