Until We Meet Again - Day 1

January 29, 2014

Until We Meet Again – Day 1

Last night, we went to the church at 8 p.m. for Brock’s setting apart.  We were thankful for the friends who were there.  We went into the high council room and our stake presidency came in….President Palmer, President Lisonbee and President Hardman.  They greeted Brock and talked for a minute with him before beginning the setting apart.  

Brock was seated in a chair, the stake presidency gathered around him and they put their hands on his head.  Then, by the power of the Melchizedek Priesthood, Brock was set apart and officially became Elder DeLuca, a full-time missionary and servant of our Heavenly Father.  Elder DeLuca was given all the blessings he will need to serve his mission well and we were all touched by the Spirit.  Of course, there were hugs all around after that, except for the girls, with whom he could only shake hands!

After the setting apart, Brock ducked into the Relief Society room, where his favorite Sunday School teacher, Colleen Earnshaw was helping the Young Women do some quilting.  They hugged and she wished him well.  It was a great evening.

Today started out hectic, as Elder Brock DeLuca had not yet finished packing!  We helped him where we could and, by 10:40 a.m., we were out the door.  We had quick lunch of Thai food in Provo and then headed to The Provo Temple for some photos, as we were told that we would have little or no time for pictures once we arrived at the MTC.  It was drizzling, but we didn’t care.  

There was another family from Idaho who were taking pictures with their missionary son in the same place we wanted to take pictures.  They took pictures of us and then we had our first glimpse of what this young man will be like as a missionary.  He stuck out his hand to the new missionary from Idaho and, with his characteristic smile, introduced himself as “Elder DeLuca.”  After we took pictures, we parked the car.  We had some last hugs, a few tears, last pieces of advice and last requests, such as, “Please tell me what parts of your letters you want on the blog and which parts you don’t!”  We then got in the car and drove the 2 blocks to the MTC.

We drove into the MTC parking lot and were immediately directed to the left, where many missionaries were waiting along the sidewalk to escort the arriving elders and sisters to their destinations.  We parked the car along the curb and a friendly elder greeted Elder DeLuca.  We then took a few last pictures and gave one last hug before saying goodbye.  

He was escorted into the MTC where we know he will be in good hands.  

Elder DeLuca is now in the full-time service of our loving Heavenly Father.  We know he will be well cared for by our Heavenly Father while he serves.  And there’s nobody better to take care of our boy than Him!

If you would like to write a letter to Elder DeLuca, please go to dearelder.com and set up an account.  He is now in the Provo MTC and will leave for the Texas Houston Mission on Wednesday, February 12th.  If you write him a letter using dearelder.com, he will get it the SAME DAY, if you send it before noon, while he is at the MTC!  Once Elder DeLuca gets to Houston, dearelder.com only charges the price of a postage stamp to get your letter delivered, and it will also take a little longer to get to him.  You can also use this website to send care packages.

If you would like to write a letter or send a package to Elder DeLuca on your own, his address while he's at the MTC is:

Elder Brock DeLuca
FEB12 TX-HOU
2009 N. 900 E. Unit 193
Provo, UT 84602

Elder DeLuca travels to Houston on Wednesday, February 12th.

The Day the Call Came - October 16, 2013

October 16, 2013

This was an awesome day.... the day Brock opened his mission call.  Jim and I had returned from a quick trip the night before and, suspecting that October 16th would be the day his mission call arrived, Brett Peters' mom Shelly loaned this classroom-sized roll-down map to Brock.  When we returned home on October 15th, Brock had it propped up on the mantle in our great room, being held in place by two 3-lb. weights!

All day on October 16th, we took guesses from family and friends on where Brock might be called to serve and attached them to the map with neon green sticky tabs.  Many people guessed many different places, but only 4 people, John Whiteman (Christy's dad), Nick Miller & Sydney House (both friends of Brock) and Brock's cousin Joey guessed that he might be called to Texas.  The guessing made the waiting game a little easier to take and filled the day with lots of what-ifs and fun.

Many of Brock's friends came to be there with him when he opened his call.  His older brother Zack even surprised Brock by driving down his cousin Paige's car the day before he was to open the call so he could be there.  Brock's cousins Paige and Josh Snow were there, along with many friends.  A couple of parents, Brother Peters and Sister Miller, even made the trip to our house for this exciting evening.

Before Brock opened his call, we made sure to get his dad, Tony, his mom, Nancy, his grandfather Dayle, Jim's parents, Grandma and Grandpa Wilson and siblings Sean, Bailley and Caisa on speaker phone so they could hear Brock as he read his call.  Brock opened the call and pulled the page out of the envelope.  Then he did something none of us expected.  He stopped and looked at all of us in the room.  He said, "I didn't always want to serve a mission." Then, Brock took a couple of minutes to thank his family and friends for their amazing support and guidance and love, without which he was sure he wouldn't have been sitting there opening a call to serve a mission.

Then, Brock opened the call and read, "Dear Elder DeLuca, You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  You are called to labor in the Texas Houston Mission......"  But Brock didn't stop there.  He read the entire mission call letter.  It was an emotional experience and the Spirit was strong.  Here's Brock's mission call.

After Brock read his call, there were hugs and tears from everyone.  And at the earliest opportunity, Brock went to his room, got his cowboy hat and his boots and came out, fully ready to go to Texas!  The best thing about Brock being called to go to Houston, other than the fact that he loves country music, BBQ and fast cars is the fact that he is going to be speaking English.  He was very relieved about that.  He also had a very good feeling that, even though he had previously had a feeling he might get called to Boise, he had the strong feeling that he has been called where he needs to go.

Here's the group that came to be there with Brock when he opened his call.  There were many family and friends who weren't able to be there.  We felt them there with us in spirit and we were happy for their love and support from a distance.

After reading the call and talking to everyone, Brock went to the kitchen and made his favorite concoction.....milkshakes made using Tillamook Old Fashioned Vanilla ice cream and raspberries from Grandma and Grandpa Wilson's garden.....yum!