Ali's Farewell Weekend

I can't believe it's already been a week, but Ali is off to Brazil to serve in the Brazil Fortaleza East Mission. She is currently in the Sao Paulo MTC. Prior to her departure the whole family came to town for her farewell and send off including the grandparents. The weekend included time in the temple and serving as proxies for the sealing of my great grandparents daughter to them. Very awesome to all join in a group hug in the celestial room all dressed in white. That evening we had an open house for Ali. Since we are currently serving outside the ward and since Ali has been mostly away to college the last eighteen months, we weren't sure who would come or how many. No worries. The house was packed. And most of the crowd stayed in the kitchen area while they were here. You could hardly hear one another talk because of all the simultaneous conversations. On Sunday it was great to be together in the Frontenac Ward sacrament meeting. That's first time since the weddings that has ever happened and even before the weddings the last time was probably when Kristi Lee left on her mission three years ago. Ali gave a great talk on faith, hope, and charity. Many people asked her where they could find her final story ("When White Shirts Turn Gray"). We came home and had a great meal together and enjoyed visits from the Kramers and the Lakes. That evening we went to Pres Bunderson's home for Ali's setting apart. It was an uplifting and genuine experience as we had an opportunity to give her our love and final advice and encouragement. On Monday there were still a few tasks to complete. Maybe the biggest was Ali getting her haircut about 8-10 inches. Ali's choice for a final meal together was to go to La Salsa. For whatever reason it took along time to get the food and we began to realize we were running late. In two different cars we bolted for the airport. International travel and we arrived with less than hour to departure and then the lady at check-in took a very long time going over Ali's travel documents. After we thought we were good to go she ran us down because a handle on Ali's suitcase had broken. More paperwork. By the time her luggage got on the conveyor belt there was only about thirty minutes to departure. We hurried to the gate and had final wonderful good-byes. Ali seemed so ready. We watched her to the very final moment as she went through security.  Later that night we got a phone call from Atlanta that she was all set for the next flight to São Paulo. Since then we have had a brief email that she is there and underway. We can't wait for the first real email to give us all the details.