CONFIDENT, HAPPY, AND READY

"Confident, happy, and ready" are the three adjectives that Christopher's cousin Joey used to describe him as he embarked on the grand adventure of his missionary service. Chris has been in Utah since Friday, Feb. 6 visiting family and friends and skiing with his dad. He had the chance to visit the Salt Lake Temple (above) with Gordon and Grandma Pat, which was very cool. Apparently, while walking around the grounds, they saw a rainbow over Salt Lake City. It was like a sign, you know, with Chris being the "Rainbow" man, and all...haha. (CCHS alumni will understand this.)

During the trip, Chris was able to reconnect with cousins and friends, have a fun pizza party, and play a game or two of Killer UNO.

On a snowy Wednesday morning, February 11th, Christopher's cousin Kayla arranged for a special lunch in the Sky Room of the Wilkinson Center. There is a great view of the mountains and BYU campus from up there. Guess what they happened to be serving? Mexican buffet! As if Chris will not be eating enough Mexican food over the next two years.

Chris arrived at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) around 1pm with Dad, and cousins Joey and Kayla. Christopher's sister Heidi has decided that MTC should really stand for "My Terrific Christopher" and we all agree.

Chris' dad got to pin his missionary nametag on him, complete with what is affectionately known as a "Dork Dot", an orange sticker which designates him as a newbie missionary. He was glad to see the nametag was printed in Spanish, though, so chances are they have him going to the right place!

And off he went!

As little sister Amy always says, "Goodbye, Good Luck!"

Hopefully, the next post will be an actual message from Elder Thelin himself, but in the meantime, this will have to do! If anyone wants to write him a really quick letter, there is a free service available through http://www.dearelder.com/ where you can type a letter and it will be printed and delivered to his box the next day for free. You just have to go to the site and click "Provo MTC (FREE) under Send Stuff on the left. You do not have to have an account to send a letter. If you wish to make a small donation for the service you can, but you don't have to. I have made a donation that should cover any letters you want to write, so don't feel guilty! You just need to know his name, Box 308, and Utah Ogden Mission. His MTC departure date is in April. Any comments you leave for him here on the blog will be forwarded to him weekly. Please understand that he may not have enough time to answer everyone individually.

Thanks everyone for supporting Chris! We are excited to hear about his first few days!