Matthew's Mission Call

So, after our church history trip, we were raring to come home. On the trip Ted got a notification from the church that Matthew had been cleared for assignment and we thought that Matthew's mission call might be waiting for us when we got home. It wasn't there yet, but it finally arrived the week after!

Ted's parents joined us for the opening of the call and we got my parents and grandparents on Skype for the big reveal.

We thought the envelope was cool. It feels a lot more real when you get an envelope

addressed to "Elder Matthew Reese Boren"

Opening the call felt a little bit like Christmas morning

Matthew has been called to serve in the Ohio Cleveland Mission. Matthew could have been called to Timbuktu and the kids couldn't have had a more enthusiastic reaction. They were so thrilled for him. The Cleveland mission includes Kirtland, one of our favorite places on the trip which we had just taken. Everybody is over the moon excited and Matthew is too.

The missionary packet chock full of newsy details and interesting information

Ted and I were actually commenting on the trip that if Matthew got called state-side, it would be so cool if he got called to serve somewhere where we had just visited. Yay for him!

These are the mission boundaries where he will be serving:

A copy of Matthew's Call

Matthew leaves September 5th, so we had to hop right on the preparations.

We've done most of the clothes shopping, but we still have some odds and ends to get to. Matthew knows how to cook, do laundry, and iron shirts, but we need a couple of lessons on sewing on buttons and I need to give him an advanced course on stain removal--you never know when you might need that!

We are so happy for him! We're going to miss him a ton. It leaves an empty little spot in my heart when I think about it too much, so mostly we're just working and not thinking about the reality of it too much.

I know Matthew will be a tremendous missionary, and I'm proud of his desire to serve and his willingness to sacrifice that chunk of his life. He will be great, and I can't wait for him to have the amazing experiences I know will be his!