Tyler is a pretty independent kid and gets things done without too much help from us. He set up an appointment to meet with the bishop and start his missionary paperwork. Before we knew it he was getting his call. We posted up our maps and let people guess where he might be going. I was guessing somewhere Spanish-speaking in South America. But ... my mom is always spot on. She sent me a text after family dinner and said she wanted to change her guess to Finland. I decided I better change my guess to Finland too. So when he opened his call with our family before his friends all came, she brought a small homemade flag in her pocket. It was a Finnish Flag she colored.
Darren sent this picture to our family text thread. "Now he's getting ready to leave the house and go on a mission". Tyler's reply and the picture he sent back was perfect, "I was born ready"
Tyler waited until after school to go hike up to a quiet spot and open his call on his own. He already spoke Spanish and French but was willing to learn a new language and go somewhere cold. Then he came home and opened it with his family and grandparents. Then our house was filled with friends. and it was filled! What a great showing of support. He asked Valree Dowland to say a prayer which was beautiful.
