Janelle's Mission: From "The Call" to "The MTC"

During October 2012 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an announcement was made to move up the age that a Sister Missionary could serve a mission from 21 to 19. Since Janelle had already been counting down the days until she could submit her paperwork (January 14th - 120 days prior to her 21st birthday), the news of the age change only sped up the process. She called her BYU Bishop immediately at the conclusion of the closing prayer of the Saturday Morning Session, and made an appointment to visit with him that Tuesday evening. In record time her papers were submitted, and the excitement for where she would be Called to Serve intensified. Halloween morning we received a call from the American Fork, Utah Post Office informing us that a "large white envelope", addressed to "Sister Janelle De Groot", had arrived. I called Janelle in Provo (OK, truth be told I had to call her roommates phone at 6am (after numerous unsuccessful attempts to contact Janelle on her own cell) since she had accidentally turned her ringer off the night before!) and she met me in American Fork 1/2 hour later. The call was opened up that evening while numerous family members and friends listened in (many were there in person, and others participated via FaceTime (Keri/Ernesto in Las Vegas and Bill/Whitney in New York), Skype (Erin/Brandon in Brazil), and Cell Phone (Ryan in New York)! We LOVE technology!!!)

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Sister Janelle De Groot,

you have been called to serve in the Canada Toronto Mission! Missionary Training Center (MTC) entrance date: January 2, 2013!!!

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Christmas gifts were

mostly mission related. Janelle loved the

Sister Missionary Apron

we had ordered for her!

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The next 9 weeks FLEW by! Celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's added to the excitement! Visits from many out-of-town family members made the time go by even quicker (The Tinoco's joined us for Thanksgiving, and again for Christmas; Ryan came for 3 1/2 weeks over Christmas/New Year's; and Bill/Whitney flew in on New Year's Eve with Nina and their newest addition, Elin). We are SO thankful that so many of our children were in town to help celebrate Janelle during this wonderful time in her life. We missed the Hooley's in Brazil, but once again are grateful for the connection we feel via Skype sessions!

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Janelle spoke in church on Sunday, December 30th. Afterwards, we had a gathering of @ 50 of her best friends and family members over to visit and eat. Here are a few pictures from her Open House:

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We celebrated New Year's Eve with dinner at Texas Roadhouse, compliments of Ryan (who had given everyone gift certificates for Christmas. Thanks, Ryan!!) Afterwards, Bill and I took Lia to the airport to pick up Bill & Whitney and their girls. Lia and Nina were thrilled to be back together again...and Aunt Janelle loved spending time with these two crazy girls!

We all enjoyed getting to

meet sweet Elin, who was

born on December 3rd!!

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Janelle was set apart as a

Missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Tuesday, January 1st, by President Conrad Gottfredson. Beautiful promises and blessings are hers as she serves obediently. What a PERFECT way to start out the New Year!!!

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Wednesday, January 2nd, finally arrived, much to Janelle's excitement! A farewell lunch at Uncle Craig's Gandolfo's Restaurant, in Provo, was Sister De Groot's food of choice before

heading over to the MTC. :0)