The beginning

Hayden Michael Clegg was set apart as a missionary on Monday evening, July 28, 2014. He spent the rest of the night saying goodbye to friends and family. (That AND packing.) We got to bed pretty late and woke up to "the day". He said goodbye to his truck and whatever other possessions he deemed worthy of a farewell. We left for the airport shortly after 9:00am. The ride down was...interesting. We talked and laughed. All the while we were nervous, excited and honestly, a bit in shock. Pulling in to park at the airport was tough. We knew our last few minutes with our son/brother were happening. We could tell he was anxious to get going. Mike helped him check his baggage and then...a few pictures, a lot of tears and a visual of him going up that escalator we will never forget. When he got to the top, someone asked him where he was going. The last words we heard him say were, "I'm going to Chile!" He was so ready to serve! He was flying to Atlanta and then on to Chile. It was an all night flight, expected to arrive in Chile around 8:00am the next morning. Much to our relief and joy, we received our first email from him the next morning. He told us he arrived in Chile safely and made it through customs. His first impression of Chile was, "the mountains are massive and the people are short". (I suppose most people seem short to Hayden.) We had to wait another full week before we heard from him again.