Traditionally the Sunday before someone leaves for a mission, they give what is called a “farewell talk”. There’s a farewell church service and we host a farewell party. So everyone can say, well, “farewell” lol.
It’s a big deal and something that I had thought a lot about over the years. I didn’t know if my kids would serve a mission and it was up to them, but I knew if they did decide to, it would involve a farewell. And that scared me. A formal good bye.
We were blown away by the support we received – from Zach’s friends, to parents of his friends, to our friends, to family. I know summer is a busy time for people so when people delayed going away, came home early, drove long distances; to others bringing over food and more food. People coming to the church service when maybe it was out of their comfort zone, to bringing their little kids over when it was nap time. It truly was an outpouring of love for this milestone of a day.
We woke up early and did some prep for the party:
Before church, we took some pics in our typical spot on our porch:
I made them hug:
With some of his good friends:
At church, the youth sang a beautiful song, with Zandra singing a solo in the song. She sounded angelic. Zach said he could feel the tears well up. When the kids were singing, he got emotional, saying he hadn’t really thought about how much he would miss his siblings…
Then I spoke. Then Zach spoke.
Of course it happened to be a day when we had extra stuff going on in the church service so Zach ran out of time. He was slipped a “times up” note – which had become a little joke now with our family and friends.
We managed to get a couple of pictures outside the church of Zach with his friends (although a bunch of people had left already).
We raced home to get all the food organized.
Reggie wasn’t super happy about the crowds:
Then people started streaming in over the course of several hours. Again, it as amazing to see how loved Zach is and how blessed to be surrounded by such awesome people. Everyone was hanging around in various parts of our house since we don’t exactly have a huge house with a huge entertaining area:
His fave youth leader:
We got a few pictures with his dad and grandparents: They came from Montreal and she brought a bunch of yummy food:
A few more from during the day:
It will be a day I will forever remember.
