At left is the night, 17 Feb, he was set apart. Drew asked Carlin to be his companion until he got to the MTC.

Well, the dust has settled and Drew is in the MTC. we got him there 18 Feb at 12:30.

We had no idea how tough it would be to let him go. Our family is soooo tight. It was very hard on Carlin and Kris. Conner did well, but you could see it in his face. On the bright side, Conner will take the lead in our home. He is very capable and will now be able to shine very brightly. I felt like Abraham offering up Isaac to the Lord. It is the right thing to do, but a very hard thing to do. I contemplated several times to lock him in his bedroom and keep him there for a while longer, but figured he would escape and go anyway. He was VERY anxious to get there.

Carlin and Kris are nearly back to normal now. It did take a couple days, very hard ones, but the Lord did take good care of us.

No letters yet, but I'm sure they will come soon. we found out he will be able to send e-mail while in the MTC. He will have only 30 min to write, then the screen goes blank. He will have to hurry. Snail mail is always available. Here is his address:

Elder Andrew A. Merrill
MTC Mailbox #162
ITA-MIL 0421
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo Ut. 84604-1793

A nice service we found is Dear Elder.com you can write him free. Just follow the directions and he will have it by noon that day or the following day if written after noon.