he just left on his mission on wednesday. for the next 3 weeks he'll be stationed in the notorious provo mtc, then it's off to the mtc in the dominican republic, and then he'll be booted into puerto rico.
missions are strange things. it certainly is a faith based practice to send in such young men (and only a little bit less young women) to spread the gospel. when my other brother, bryan, went into the mtc, it didn't seem so strange, probably since i'm only a year older than him. 19 doesn't seem so little when you're 20 and think you know pretty much everything. but from where i'm sitting now, at the ripe old age of 25, 19 seems infantile. and soon my baby brother will be saddled with the weight of saving the world.
lately the memory that sticks out about jake the most is actually a whole block of memories. when he was about 5 or 6 he went through this phase where he'd hug me like 7 or 8 times a day, each hug lasting upwards of 2 minutes. i've gotta admit, i really didn't want to be hugged for 14-16 minutes a day at that point in my life. but it is basically impossible to pry your little brother off of you and tell him that he has got to stop hugging you. so i gritted my teeth and bore it. and, secretly, i liked it. sometimes he hugged me when i needed it the most. that's something he's been able to do for his whole life: see someone in need and answer that need in his quiet, self content way. and that's what i know he is going to do for those people in puerto rico. he'll give them a proverbial hug and they'll feel better, even if they don't admit it.
he's such a big boy!
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