We Arrived at the Gates and an Angel Was There to Greet Us

We drove into the parking lot of the MTC at our appointed time and were greeted by a guy with a clipboard directing us where to go.  Each space along the curbside was marked 1 to 26.  We were directed to go to space 25 (my lucky number!). 

As we started moving through the crowds at spaces 1 through 4 or 5, Justin suddenly rolls his window down, “PATRICK!” he yells!  As I’m chastising him for yelling at the MTC and second of all, it’s “Elder Spiker”, I see this head bobbing up and down in the crowd yelling back, “PEACOCK!”  Patrick is very springy.  He ran with our car all the way around the corner to our space.  It was very hot and humid that day, so that was impressive.

Patrick was Justin’s BYU roommate this last year and he left May 14 for the MTC on his way to the Argentina-Salta mission.  He was supposed to leave for Argentina before Justin arrived, but due to visa delays, he was still there.  We thought we *might* see him, but it was a distant hope.  It was a treat to have such an enthusiastic welcome!

The best part of the story is that I could have been a blubbery mess by the time we opened the car doors, but instead we were all very distracted by seeing cute, smiley Patrick that I forgot to be sad.  It was a tender mercy of the Lord.

“But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance” (1 Nephi 1:20)

I think it especially made it easier on Justin…

So Patrick snapped a few last pictures of the family…

  

Elder Spiker took charge of Elder Peacock’s luggage…

We watched briefly as they made their way up the sidewalk before driving away.

And THEN we fell apart.