Day 2 :: Carthrage

We knew this would the hardest part of the time. No matter how excited we were to visit Carthrage, we dreaded it. Carthrage was the place Austin had to say goodbye to his "brothers" for the next 2 years. Because of some miscommunication we were running a little late this morning. Thankfully we pulled in just in time to catch the very end of the devotional inside vistors center. Austin's tour group faintly started to sing "God be with you til we meet again" the sobs soon outweighed the singing but the piano played on. It was so very touching and the spirit so very strong. After the song ended everyone formed a big line outside the jail.. one by one Austin hugged each member of his tour, whether he knew them or not :) Slowly the line dwindled and he ended with his very best friends. These boys have become an extension to our family, bonus little brothers. Watching them all say goodbye was definitely one of the
very hardest things I have done. 

Austin handled it all very well, I only saw a few tears escape. Later when we told him how surprised we were by how he handled it all he said
"I have to be strong for them, they all still have to do their missions" 

After we watched the tour buses pull away we did our own tour of Carthrage. The spirit just got stronger the rest of the day. Carthrage has such a special spirit and I love it. I was so happy to finally be there with Mitch, watch him experience it for the first time.