Pre-Mission Gift Ideas

Pre-mission gifts were some of my favorite things to give Cody because he wasn't expecting anything at all and it helped me learn more about what it was going to be like for him while he was serving The Lord.

I found out that Cody's farewell talk was going to be during my annual family Lake Powell trip. We were both devastated.

I had a couple ideas to make up for it. 

A few days before the trip I bought a Spanish Book of Mormon to have a friend deliver to Cody the night before his farewell. But this wasn't just any $2.00 Book of Mormon. On the inside cover I wrote my testimony in Spanish. I wrote Cody a seperate note with special instructions to read my testimony and find the right person to give it to while on his mission. This simple gift means a lot to me because my testimony is the most important thing I can ever give to someone. 

So I had a friend deliver it to him the night before his farewell talk. Little did he know I was going to surprise him and drive seven hours home to make it to his talk. I was so excited and he had no idea (insert smirking emoji). 

The day of the talk, my mom and I got to his church early and were sitting in the pews. Cody came walking in and freaked out. He said he knew I would be there because he's "telepathic." Hmm. I don't know if I believe him... ;)

He gave an amazing talk and I was falling more and more in love. I was and still am completely whipped. 

Another thing I gave him was a CTR ring. And he gave me one too :) Here are pictures of each of ours. You can buy these at any Deseret Book!

I'm sure you can guess who's is who's :)

The last thing I gave him before he left was this little paperback by Mark W. Newman from Deseret Book. I went through and highlighted some things that I thought were helpful or funny to stand out for him to read. 

It had some great advice! I was really impressed. Along with this I gave Code a picture of The Salt Lake Temple, the First Presidency, and Jesus Christ. I also wrote a letter to read on his first bad day in the MTC. He loved it!

Giving Cody little missionary themed gifts helped transition me into the "Oh my gosh, he's really leaving" stage. Honestly, it seemed so far away until all of a sudden he had his farewell talk. Everything went downhill from there. So this was fun for me to read the little pamphlet and be able to write my testimony of the Book of Mormon. And I'm pretty sure Cody enjoyed getting all the gifts. :)

These are just a few ideas and I'm sure there are plenty of other cute things you can find on Pinterest but these three things came from my very own blonde head. 100% original so I feel pretty creative ;)

Let me know your ideas! 

Xoxo

-Mads