Sis. Whitney Indiana Indianapolis Mission

I talked to Caprice the next Monday on her new PDAY! We are so blessed to be able to talk to our missionaries once a week, especially with Caprice because she has so much to say!  She said that classes had been going good, the food wasn't as good as everyone bragged about (she had been sticking to the salad bar mostly), and that she LOVED all the sisters she shared a room with.  When she entered the MTC she felt like she was starting to get a cold (which she gets a lot of constantly), and she was worried it would set her back.  Luckily, one of the sisters in her room was a "healer" and healed Caprice with some medicines and essential oils.  She started feeling better quickly and felt that that was one of the "miracles" that happened in the MTC.                                                   Caprice's first facetime call from the MTC !                                            Caprice with 2nd cousin Chelsea Whitney in MTC! 

 Caprice called us from the MTC the day after she was dropped off because it was her PDAY.  I loved being able to talk to her that soon.  She told me that MTC was such a spiritual place and everyone there is so cheesy and nice.  She showed me her dorm room where there were only 4 sisters in a room instead of the usual 6 (covid restrictions).  She was so happy to meet all the missionaries in her district in person finally!  She said they all got along so well.  They got to go to the Provo temple and do an endowment session.  She even saw her 2nd cousin Chelsea Whitney there! 

 We left for the MTC the morning of Feb. 23.  The day was cold and snowy.  Beck and Rem didn't want to miss school so they said their goodbye's that morning.  We stopped by Saige's work in Taylorsville to take her to lunch and to say goodbye to Caprice.  We went to Hire's and got burgers and shakes, and ate them in the car because the restaurant was closed.   It was snowing super hard when we drove to Provo.  We had to go super slow and when we arrived at the entrance of the MTC they directed us to a parking lot to park and let Caprice out.  It was so uneventful.  We literally got out her suitcases in the snowstorm, took a quick picture, said our goodbyes, and then some missionaries whisked her and her luggage off.  It felt like a weird dream saying goodbye to my daughter for 18 months.  I held myself together until I got home and immediately started vacuuming ( which I do when I am upset apparently).   Beck asked me to turn off the vacuum because he was doing homework

Caprice started home MTC on Feb. 14th - yep, Valentine's Day!  She had a ton of meetings over Zoom with her district.  She was home for 10 days and worked continuously online in our front home office.  By the end of the 10 days she was really ready to go to the real MTC!! She said it was lonely being at home (we were all work and school all day) and pretty boring and was excited to meet her district in person as they grew very close.  

 Caprice's mission farewell was held on Feb. 13, 2022 at our church building.  So many friends and family came to her farewell and to our house after for Cafe Rio salads and dessert.  Caprice practiced her talk all week and presented it with confidence and calmness.  She shared some special stories about why she was inspired to serve a mission.  We had such a big turnout after at our house that we almost ran out of food.  Some old friends from Riverton came, new friends from South Weber, her friends from college and OATC and high school, and most of all our family members.   We felt so much love it and it really was such a special occasion.   Grandma Sue even made some beautiful flower arrangements with yellow and white flowers to represent the colors in the Indiana state flag.  

 Caprice received her mission call to the Indiana Indianapolis mission on December 7, 2021.  She was attending BYU-Idaho when the call was emailed to her, and she asked us to drive up to Rexburg to watch her open her mission call that night.  I am so glad we could be there for her special moment!  We had all of our extended family watch her open it over a ZOOM call, so it felt like everyone was right there supporting her.  Caprice was so nervous to open it but had the biggest smile on her face as she read the letter.  When she announced "Indiana Indianapolis Mission" the Gregory's all started cheering!  Uncle Aaron is from Indian and has lots of family still living there, so he was pretty excited for her!  The funniest part is listening to Caprice trying to pronounce "Indianapolis"!  She botched it pretty bad but covered it up like a pro haha.  The feeling of happiness for her was overwhelming.  Caprice felt instantly a love for Indiana and was so excited that s