He's Gone!!! Finally!!!

I am passing the responsibility to Mother Goldthorp for care of Elder G's Blog. I have faith in her in carrying on this responsibility. But I do ask all of you to pray for her. Mother Goldthorp will be "LEAVING" her "COMFORT ZONE" on this one. But I know she will do well and become comfortable with this. With that said the remainder of this post will be done by Mother G, I will be here to assist her. Mother G take it away...

Well, here it goes... Antonia says I am to embrace this and run with it, am I supposed to run to it or away from it!! I guess I will embrace it, hug it (does it hug back???), become one with it, ( will it hurt??).

So, the long and winding road of Daniel's adventure of going on his mission. It has been a bit of a challenge to say the least. There has been a some visa issues. So, he was supposed to enter the MTC on July 8th, but without a visa no going over the border. Therefore, there was a 6 week delay. Having given notice at all his places of employment he had a lot of time on his hands. He kept fairly busy with going out with the missionaries as they needed him, hanging with friends,reading and helping around the house, when asked. We,(Ed), kept in touch with Salt Lake to see what the status of the visa was and we soon found out that there were still 10 outstanding at that time when Daniel's got submitted. Salt Lake found out that it was on someone's desk waiting to be processed, is there a light at the end of the tunnel???? Well, 4 weeks came and went and still NO VISA!!! UGH!!

So Ed ,the ever valiant father, contacts our Stake President and tells him of the situation and how the delay would cause Daniel when he would return a years delay in schooling and possible loss of some education funds.

So with President Baxter and President Middleton (mission President of the Canada Toronto West Mission), and Salt Lake they all decided that Daniel would start his mission in the Canada Toronto West Mission on Tuesday 18th of August 2009. Daniel got set apart on Monday 17th of August at our home by our Stake president and Ed drove him to the mission home on Tuesday for 6pm.

Just got off the phone with Ed, and guess what? When he got home from dropping Daniel off and visiting friends on the way home there was a message from Salt Lake saying that his visa came in and that he will be expected to be at the MTC on Friday August 21st 2009. He does not know yet because he is in Burlington serving, President Middleton will tell him later on today.

I am sure that he will be truly excited about all this news.

There will pictures posted when I get back from Alberta.

CALLED TO SERVE...

Well if you haven't already heard Daniel is going to Boise, IDAHO, English Speaking.  He received his call Thursday and we had a family conference call Friday morning.  He is really excited and can't wait to serve the Lord.  He will be reporting to the MTC July 6th.  His Mission President will be President John W. Hardley.  

Some neat facts about the Idaho Boise Mission:  The mission includes 30 stakes in South Western Idaho and Eastern Oregon. 

The Mission extends from Twin Falls, Kimberly, and Carey on the East to Ontario, and Lagrande, Oregon on the West. The Northern boundary extends in Idaho to McCall and Riggins and also includes Sun Valley on the Northeast. All of Idaho, East of Twin Falls is in the Idaho Pocatello Mission and the Northern Panhandle is in the Washington Spokane Mission.

Idaho's population is approximately 1,250,000. Boise is the largest city with approximately 250,000 residents and is the only city in Idaho with more than 50,000 people. For the most part, the state is very rural and sparsely populated.

Among religious groups, the Mormons make up about 29% of the state's population and are the largest, followed by Roman Catholics and Methodists. For more than a century, Idaho has ranked second after Utah in concentration of Mormon population.

Some cities in Eastern Idaho have a Mormon population of 50% to 60%. The Idaho Boise Mission which includes South Western Idaho and Eastern Oregon is closer to 15% to 20% Mormon. Idaho has two Mormon temples, one in Idaho Falls and the other in Boise.

We are all excited for Daniel to serve!

Predictions...

I've called the family and have compiled all the predictions on where Elder Goldthorp is going.  Check out the red dots on the map.  Mom - Italy, Dad - Germany, Antonia - England, Shawn - California, Amanda - Germany, Andrea - Thailand, Steve - Chile, and Daniel thinks he'll be going to Japan.  I just found out from Mom that Daniel's papers were sent back.  You are only allowed to send them 90 days before your Birthday.  So President Baxter we'll be sending them February 19th.  It will be exciting to see.  It's funny that all of us except Shawn think he'll be going foreign.  We'll just have to wait and see.

Where in the World is Elder G Going?

Well just to give everyone a head's up!  Daniel's Papers are in. Now he is just waiting.  We'll see what happens.  I (Antonia), am going to do the postings for Daniel's Mission Blog.  I'll post pics, letters and all those things so everyone can check out what is going on with Elder Goldthorp.  So the Question right now is where in the world is Elder G going to end up?  We are taking guesses before Daniel's call arrives.  I'll post them in a couple of days but check out this map, and leave your feedback on where you think Elder G is going to serve the Lord.