Farewell at the Sacramento Airport

On Wed. the 26th of January we left Sacramento for Salt Lake City. We went a little early to the airport to meet up with Holts, Cambirdges, and Sheppards. Christy's kids made some great signs. We really appreciated all the love and support - you guys are great! Leaving is hard - especially leaving family - but we are so excited to begin this great adventure in serving the Lord!

Yes, feeding them is always a good idea - especially if it's donuts!!

Check out all the yummy donuts!

Here is the crew with signs - thanks Carrie for taking the picture!

This is looking back after ascending the stairs for the final wave and goodbye!

We have everything we own packed up in Jody's Dad's garage. Whew! It only took half a day for Dave to add our stuff from the condo to the already existing collection. We gave away so much and yet we still seem to have a lot - what does that tell you about the American lifestyle? Now we are really ready to go!!!

Mom and Dad Reese came for our setting apart - they are taking our suitcases back with them (to save us the cost of flying with them!) So here are our bags - packed and ready to go. This is everything we'll need for the next 18 months! We will not be leaving till the 26 of January!

1-10-2011 Tonight was the setting apart of Peter, David and Jody Reese as full time missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We met at the Church Stake Center at 8pm with family and friends. We also were able to include Tony & Connie in Arizona on skype (LOVE skype!!) President Williams (Our Stake President) offered counsel and advice to Peter and us on being great missionaries. He said to Love the Savior, Love the people where you serve, Love your companion (easy for Dave & Jody!). to work hard, be obedient, learn the gospel - wear out the Preach My Gospel book, bear your testimony often and be all you can for the Lord. Peter was set apart first, followed by David, then Jody. The blessings were beautiful - addressing concerns that only the Lord would know. The three new missionaries then bore their testimonies and we were able spent time visitng with everyone who was there.

Family and friends - thank you for coming!

President Williams getting ready to set Peter apart as a full time missionary.

Peter hugging those who stood in the circle to help set him apart.

This is Dave right after he was set apart.

We are getting more anxious now rather than excited. Time is going by sometimes both faster and slower at the same time. We have packed our bags now to see what will fit and how much they weigh. Mom and Dad Reese are coming in from Utah today and will be here for ours and Peters setting apart as missionaries. They are also going to attend Courtney's, (our granddaughter's) baptism. We will send the bags back with them to Utah which will save us the expense the airlines charge for baggage.
All the major things we were concerned with are done, we have sold the car and rented the condo which were the last big items we had left to get ready. We now just have a few little things left to do.
This week and last week we added working at the St Joseph's Shelter for women and children. It has been a good experience and it has helped fill the days making time go by faster. We work in the kitchen helping to prepare the food and then set-up and serve. We have been working with a great chef who is originally from the Ukraine and for a while worked on the cruise ships in the Black Sea. Very interesting to get the inside view of working on a cruise ship. Also interesting to hear his views on socialism and how he see us going in that direction and how, having lived under it, it is the way we don't want to go.

FYI - we are to report to the MTC in Provo, Utah on January 31. We will be there for 2 weeks and then flying to Armenia on Feb. 13. We will be in the MTC for 2 days with Peter before he goes to Tucson AZ (he has a blog at www.elderreese.blogspot.com ) It is going to be great to serve a mission at the same time Peter is!

In order to accomplish everything we need to do before we leave - we taped a big sheet of paper on the wall and started writing our to do list as we thought of things! Now that we have the condo up for rent - we have to take down our list. So here is a picture of us in front of it.