PAUL JR. GOES ON HIS MISSION

Dear Family,

Cheryl and Paul's son, Paul Jr, has also gone on his mission this month. Paul received a call to the Taiwan Taipei Mission.  Here is a shot of Paul Jr, and his Opa Wirthlin outside  the Holladay Chapel.

Paul had one mammoth Sunday; he had his farewell, got ordained an Elder and received his Eagle award after that, and then there was a big reception at home that went into the late evening....quite a day!  They had been traveling so Paul missed the Eagle Court of Honor with the live Eagle so the Scoutmaster came over to the home for the award.  Paul sr.  did the ordination.

We attended his farewell which was outstanding. Several members of the family participated; Annabelle, Olivia and Jon Huntsman Senior.  Annabelle gave a talk, Olivia played a tricky assortment of church hymns and  Jon Senior was the concluding speaker.  Paul gave a very good talk and showed  a mature understanding of the Gospel and our missionary message.  He will make a very fine Missionary. The meeting was packed with friends of the family and the large assortment of Paul's friends as well. Not to mention several rows from the Wirthlin side of the family.

Following the meeting, there was a great reception that Cheryl organized, it was almost a ward dinner.  Lot's of kids, friends and tons of goodies.

The next week, we went with Paul jr, Cheryl, Paul Sr. and Madeline to the Jordan Temple for his endowment and that was also very special.  Paul's uncle is the Temple President so Paul Jr. received extra attention.  It was so great to be in the temple with them.

Then they invited us  to go down to Provo to drop Paul,(now Elder Huntsman) off at the Mission Training Center where he will get missionary training and an intense start on the Mandarin language.  The trip to drop off a missionary was interesting because I had never done this with our sons.  We were back in Michigan and I was totally tied up so there were no great trips out to Utah plus we had a few kids at home.  Well that is something I missed.

We drove down in Paul's huge black Mercedes van  that held all of us.  The routine is interesting.  The MTC gives you a specific time to arrive and you drive to a specific spot in the sidewalk where there are a bunch of missionaries assigned to escort each missionary.  600 new missionaries arrived that day. We all got out and said goodbye.  Here is a clip that Mom took.

He is doing well his first week in the MTC and met his dousing, Elder Wirthlin. Here they have met up.

Great to see this generation taking over the missionary effort,  We now have Douglas, Jake, Natalie, Joseph and Paul on missions.

So great and Heaven bless you all,

Love, Opa