Viva la Vida

God Save the Queen

Hey everyone just so you are aware I'm being medically released because of some problems with my head I've been having here at the MTC, so I will be coming home and then returning to the field as soon as I can. 

Painting at the MTC

Anyway I'll just go over this week, it was a super good and spiritual week here. I've honestly loved the MTC. I've really gotten to know everyone here really well, which is one of the huge advantages of having a small MTC. The time here is honestly so weird too, the days just kinda all blur together. But one of the biggest highlights of the week was that we got to go down to Manchester city center and they basically just dropped us off and said "Okay split up and start talking to people." Most people just completely ignored us, which was to be expected BUT I did find myself stumbling across a pretty cool, some would say iconic, football ground *cough Old Trafford cough* but,other than that we mostly just got cussed at or ignored. It was a good experience however. Other than that the week was fairly uneventful, just some random shenanigans with the guys and classes.

Me and Elder Hogg from Glasgow, Scotland

We have a guy from the area seventy coming today to give us a devotional which should be really good and we're all looking forward to it. That's all for this week - I don't have a ton of time. I love you guys and I appreciate all the love and support. 

Elder Thacker 

Week One

England MTC

 

Let me just start by saying this has been the longest, most stressful, happiest, and most spiritual week of my life. So we finally got settled here at the MTC, the first couple days were really rough but I'm really starting to love it. My companion is Elder Wheeler from Davis and we get along super well. He's really goofy and a super good guy. We mostly just sit in class all day but it's nice because we get to leave the MTC complex to go on runs and stuff so I'm glad I'm not in Provo just stuck inside. 

The president here is really cool. He's from Las Vegas and wants to be able to know everyone personally which isn't too hard when there's less than 70 missionaries here. There are people from all over the place here, Scotland, Italy, South Africa, Australia, France, Holland etc. The food is all done by a catering company so we're not doing too bad in that department.

It's weird to think I'm actually on a mission but I'm sure it will hit eventually. We go to the temple today and we're all really excited for that. Anyway I'd love to hear from you guys it gives me some variety. Hope you have a good week. I love all of you.

Elder Thacker

Chi Town

It's ya boi. I made it to the MTC. I'm doing good and my P day is Tuesday so I'll talk to you all then love you.

This has been the longest and most stressful couple days of my life hands down. We've had two flights get cancelled so we had to sort them out on our own because the church can't really do anything about it. So we stayed the night at a hotel in Chicago and then received the news in the morning that our connecting flight to Manchester had been cancelled due to high winds out of Amsterdam. So two other elders and I made the choice to go to the airport almost 5 hours early to try to sort everything out. Finally KLM was able to stick us on a flight to Dublin that connected us to Manchester. It's been very frustrating and I'm trying to stay as positive as I can and it requires total trust in the Lord. 

Anyway, we made it to Dublin. It's a super cool place and the people are super cool. We're all just so sick of traveling honestly. But we're chillin.

Made it to the MTC and met with President Bunker and his wife and now we get to email. All in all I'm doing pretty well but it's super stressful but I still really love it. All the staff here are really cool. My companion is Elder Wheeler. I haven't met him yet but I'll send pics on Tuesday because we don't have a ton of time right now.

Birmingham Bound

 

**This Post Written by Mom**

Tuesday morning came early. We were out the door by 6:00. Jake was in good spirits, but pretty anxious! 

  

After getting checked in, we went up to security and had our painful good bye hugs. It was hard to say good bye, but it's been such a long wait we were ready to let him go and serve! There were quite a few other missionaries and he quickly started chatting with them while in the security line. When we couldn't see him anymore, we headed for home.

 

 

 His travel itinerary was from SLC to Chicago to Amsterdam to Manchester. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite that easy. Later that afternoon Jim got a call from Jake saying they were stuck in Chicago. After their 4 hour layover, and another 4 hour delay while they tried to find a replacement part for the plane, their flight to Amsterdam was cancelled! The Church helped them get hotel rooms for the 12 missionaries in their group. Tuesday morning Jake called again to say they would be leaving around 4:00 that afternoon (About 28 hours after they arrived in Chicago.) Shortly after Jake called, we saw an email noting their flight to Manchester had also been cancelled and rebooked for 24 hours later! We couldn't believe it was going to take three days to get to the MTC! (In the end, things turned out even different than this - see next post.)

Monday night I got a phone call from a man I didn't know. He told me he sat by Jake on the flight to Chicago and asked for my number so he could tell me how amazing my son is! He said they talked about the gospel for almost the whole flight, and he was stunned at Jake's gospel knowledge and his comfort and confidence talking about it. I really appreciate hearing the kind things he had to say about Jake!

The Night Before

  

**This Post Written by Mom**

 

 Over Conference weekend Jake gave each of his siblings a gift to remember him by while he is gone - Zack got a cool CTR ring and gift cards to Cafe Rio and Noodles & Co so he can eat  on Jake's behalf, Jackson got a soccer jersey from a team in Jake's mission, and Portia got an elder Build a Bear complete with Jake's voice in it, along with an Alex and Ani bracelet that has a bike on it. It was fun for the kids and I'm glad Kali suggested it to us!

 

 Jake spent Monday afternoon watching Interstellar with Matt and saying good bye to friends. That night he chose a steak quesadilla at Cafe Rio for his last meal.

Jack, Jake, Kimball and Nolan

Jake and Sydnee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Jakes

In between Dinner and the setting apart, Jake had quite a few friends stop by to say good bye.

President Humphrey set Jake apart. It was a great blessing with wonderful promises! Here we go.

Farewell Elder Thacker

 

**This Post Written by Mom**

Jake's mission is inching ever closer! The milestone event of his mission farewell came and went Sunday. It was such a perfect day! Church was at 9:00, so we had a pretty crazy morning of getting everything ready - at least as much as we possibly could - before we left for church. Portia had to be there at 8:30 to practice her song for the meeting. Luckily Jake and Zack were ready early and took her. Soon after, the rest of us ran out the door. 

It was a fantastic meeting. It really was. Zack blessed the sacrament for his first time, Jackson was the youth speaker, and Portia sang "We Will Be What We Believe" with Hannah and Fynnley and a chorus of other primary kids. Jackson's talk was great, and it was crystal clear how much he looks up to Jake and is going to miss him! The song was beautiful and brought a lot of tears out in the chapel. And then there was Jake's talk. He knocked it out of the park! He gave a great talk about service and the Book of Mormon and his testimony. It was very heartfelt and moving. He thanked a lot of people for their influence in his life and bore a great testimony. When all was said and done, he spoke for 30 minutes and the High Council guy was out of luck!

  

There were a few competing farewells at 9:00, so we really weren't sure how many people to expect. However, whatever expectations we had were blown out of the water! The church was packed, and subsequently so was our backyard! There were about 125 people at our house. Thankfully it was the most spot on weather we could have hoped for! Everyone enjoyed cinnamon and orange rolls, strawberries and cream, bananas and grapes, doughnuts, bagels and cream cheese, and a cold cereal bar while they visited.

 

  

We also had some pretty awesome cookies! We had sugar cookies representing the England flag, the Union Jack, the Book of Mormon, a shirt and tie and one that said Elder Thacker. And then there were the little Jake cookies!

Grandpa Richard and Grandma Vicki

Laura holding Aiden, Ken, Jim, Jan, Steve, Sue, Robby, Diane and Matthew in the front

Jessica, Jim, Grandma, Grandpa, Todd, Amelia, Joni, Seth, Jake, Kristy, Rick, Grandma Willes, Shawn, Suzanne and Grandpa Willes

Kent and Lynne even drove all the way from St. George for Jake!

  We aren't known for our large extended family, but you wouldn't have known it from all the people that came to support Jake! It was a great reminder of how many people love our family and how lucky we are to have them.

Jake, Kelsey, Sophie and

Jake and Kelsey

Jake and Sydnee

 

 There were so many family members, friends, teammates, coaches, cute girls and neighbors there I couldn't possibly name them all!

 

People were so generous to Jake through notes, money and gifts, like this two year supply of hair gel from Shannon!

 

 We could not have pulled this event off without the help Shannon, Kristi and Emily (and Matt)! They saved me and I owe them. Now we're on to finishing shopping and getting Jake packed in the just over two weeks we have until he heads out.