My Missionary Named Marshall!!

Marshall has been called to serve in the Brazil Porto Alegre North Mission. He left on August 26th to serve in Brazil for two years. Marshall has been preparing for his mission pretty much his entire life and he was so excited. We had all tried to guess where he might go...we kept thinking it might be somewhere that he'd be able to use his 4 years of high school french. However, he was needed in Brazil, is learning Portuguese and loving it!

Rich has given Marshall his haircuts for most of his life...one more! To say that Marshall loved his cell phone and computer contact (namely Facebook) would be a huge, huge understatement! We had an appointment for Marshall to be set apart as a full-time missionary with President Holt Monday evening. Early that afternoon he handed me his phone and told me he'd turned it off and was ready to move forward and leave that all behind. In my mind I had expected for him to hang on to it to the very last second, but I was so pleased. It was an amazing transformation - those last 24 hours. We could literally sense the new mantel that had been placed on his shoulders. President Holt gave him an incredible blessing. The three of us left his home filled with great anticipation for what the next two years would bring.

After leaving President Holt's home we headed over to Lottawatta Creek for one more super yummy meal! Love this pic of Rich and Marshall!

August 26th...early in the morning. Sarah was on her way out the door for Seminary. One last hug and a bucket of tears for her big brother! These two have been great friends the last several years.

Marshall's flight left around noon, all as planned. He headed for Dallas where he met up with a couple dozen other missionaries also headed to Brazil. Rich and I headed for Cheesecake Factory and drowned our sorrow in a piece of Red Velvet Cheesecake...oh, so, so, so yummy!

Those first few days that your missionary is gone are filled with tons of anxiety! We finally heard he was there and all was well by the weekend. He looks so happy here!

Marshall and one of his first instructors. His first stop was in Sao Paulo at the CTM where he worked on learning the language and missionary lessons for approximately 8 weeks.

He left Sao Paulo for Porto Alegre in mid-October. This is a pic of President and Sister Pavan, his Mission President and wife. I don't even know these people, but have such appreciation for the service they are so freely giving. I know they will bless my son's life in ways that I could never even dream of.

This is a fairly recent picture of Marshall at the Porto Alegre Temple. I'm so glad that there is a temple in his mission and that he will be able to get there occasionally.

The first weekend in December and Marshall had his first baptism...so exciting to see people's lives change for the better!!

Marshall's first companion was named Elder J. Souza ("Souza" is a very common name and so they add an initial) on the left...he's recently finished his mission and gone home to Rio, and his second companion is Elder Quieroz from Salvador. Love the fact that they are always with a companion!

I am attempting to keep a much more detailed account of Marshall's mission experiences in a blog dedicated totally to the mission...check it out at www.elderbowerman.blogspot.com. I LOVE having a missionary. I am amazed...I don't think I could do what he's doing. We had a great conversation with him on Christmas Day. He sounded so happy. He talked a lot about his routine, how he does his laundry, the members, the area, etc. Moms live for these phone calls and I'm already mentally calculating how long away Mother's Day is when I get to hear his voice again.