Our Missionary

Elder Cates arrived the MTC on July 2nd. We made a sign with his name on it and dashed our way to the front of the MTC. We were in such a hurry that one of the boys tripped and partially landed on his still freshly painted sign. With a few minutes to spare before the bus drove up I helped him pull it together and positioned the boys behind the MTC sign.

As we watched the bus come to a stop I remember my heart pumping with excitement waiting to see if he could see us. I looked back at the boys who'd obediently held up their signs, only to see the sign was also covering their faces. I could help but laugh. I told them to hurry on over now because the missionaries were about to hop out of the bus. And boy was I right, our missionary was the first one to come out and what a thrill it was to see him here!

For the next few weeks we bumped into our missionary around campus, sometimes by accidents other times on purpose. We sent him special packages with homemade goodies and Mexican treats and the boys drew him custom one of a kind pieces too. A couple of times we even got to sit and eat with him in the Comedor. It was a  treat to be a part of his MTC experience and I wish everyone we knew could come through this MTC. We left on our trip to the States before Elder Cates left the MTC. But I'd like to think that had we been here for his departure we would have woken up the boys in the wee hours of that morning and waved him off goodbye. We are proud of him and love what he is doing. His example and testimony is influencing our lives especially the boys more than he will ever know.