Around Thanksgiving, our niece Ali received her mission call to serve as a missionary for the LDS church. She will be going to Chile Santiago North, and she reports to the Provo MTC on Feb. 13, so this last weekend, she and much of the Norton family in the area came to Mesa so she could go through the temple here before leaving on her mission. It was a busy time of family, eating, celebrating together, and being reminded of the goodness of Jesus Christ and his gospel. I'm grateful for the importance of families in our faith and that there are many elements of our faith that allow us to come together often.
Ali's family came to stay with us on Friday night, and then the next morning we had a breakfast of doughnuts, milk and baked french toast. David and Ayami, Terry, Jonathan, and Sheryl met up at our house to go to the temple together. It was a gorgeous day, and I hope Ali had a good experience and felt the peace of being in such a sacred and holy place. Afterwards everyone came back here but the Quintanas who needed to get back to Yuma quickly. Enoch's parents and another brother and his wife came too, and we all went to Red Robin for dinner. It was good and kid friendly for our little ones.
Then Terry and the parents headed out to Hyder, so it got much quieter after a busy day at our house. Ali gave her missionary farewell talk in church on Sunday. We elected not to go because it was just too much in too little time for our kids, and we would have been battling the lack of sleep and resulting sour moods. But I'm sure she did wonderfully. I am excited to hear of her experiences and to see how she grows and changes in the next couple of years. She is an amazing young woman, and the first of the Norton grandkids to serve a mission. Buena suerte, Ali!
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