Farewell to Justin

February 17, 2009

Last Tuesday we went to Julie’s parents’ in South Jordan to see Justin get set apart for his mission.  For any of you that may not know, Julie’s brother, Justin Sorensen, is a quasi celebrity in Utah because of his football kicking prowess, which garnered him some state records and a ton of local and national attention, like Gatorade Player of the Year honors and All-American Bowl invitations and more.  He had a decent first year at BYU with loads of touchbacks and a few field goals.  But now he’s setting all that aside for 2 years to serve a mission to Macon, Georgia. 

So after a tasty family dinner we went to the stake center for the little meeting.  It was nice.  Good things said by the stake presidency and Justin’s bishop.  After the setting apart, Justin made the rounds shaking hands and hugging everyone.  After my handshake/hug, I went and sat down.  Eden, who was sitting there before the blessing, wasn’t there.  Turns out she had gone up to the front to hug the stake presidency, who she’d never even seen before.  She gave each of them a hug and then finished off with Justin.  It was very funny.  I was trying to get the camera out to snap a photo of Eden hugging the stake presidency but was too late.  I got it out in time to get a pic of her and Justin after their hug, though. 

So Justin is in the MTC now, getting ready to head to Macon, Georgia in a couple weeks.  We’re all excited to see his growth and experiences over the next couple years.  We’re also excited to see how he does on his unicycle.  That’s right, he’s taking his unicycle on his mission.  He got approval from his mission president to use a unicycle instead of a bike.  He’s almost as fast on a bike as on his unicycle.  He’s ridden that thing competitively and down mountains before, so he shouldn’t have any problem with the Georgia streets.  Plus what a great finding tool!  He’ll probably have a lot of people coming up to talk to him to find out what this freak is doing in the blazing hot Georgia sun on a unicycle wearing a suit.  So cool. 

One side benefit of Justin using his unicycle is that all the BYU fans out there shouldn’t have to worry too much about Justin coming back in kicking shape.  He attributes much of his kicking strength to his unicycle riding.  Now that he’ll be doing it full time for 2 years, he shouldn’t come back too weak.  Plus, he’s taking 8 balls with him to practice on P-days at the local universities or high schools.  So Justin, we will miss you.  Thanks for being a good example to your many nieces and nephews and family – the fans that really matter.

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