All of his core group of friends from Layton went on missions. He was a little bummed at first that they all were gone and he was "left behind". However, his experience at BYU has been nothing less than spectacular (other than one unfortunate incident with the head of the dorms at Helaman Halls that led to the Provo Police being called in to deal with a very innocent prank---but that's another story).

He has made incredible friends and has had that true "freshman experience". He has absolutely loved it.

An interesting note here----last spring as he was feeling a little sorry for himself since he was going to BYU "solo" it came time to sign up for the dorms. Since he didn't have a friend that was going to BYU with him, he simply chose a room and then waited to have a roommate assigned to him. About 24 hours later, we got a note from a good friend of ours. We had lived in the same ward in Boston when our kids were very little and our son and her son were best buds up until the time that they moved to Virginia. She asked us if our son was going to be at Helaman Halls in the fall, because her nephew had been assigned a roommate by the same name as our son. And what's more, her son, was in the room next door. So my son, ended up living next door to one of his best friends from his childhood and had this best friend's cousin as a roommate. Over the year, my son and this old friend have rekindled their relationship and are now closer than my son ever was with his friends from high school.

So----I'm convinced that the Lord watched out for him in this one and created a perfect situation. I'm sure He does for others as well. And having the freshman experience is, in my opinion, a very positive thing. While a young man CAN go into the mission field at 18, he is NOT REQUIRED to go at 18. Many, many, many YM would benefit greatly from having the freshman experience before they leave.