My Final Good-Byes

The church service last night was the last service that I will be attending here for a long time. Last night in church my pastor recognized me in front of the church. He had me to stand and asked everyone to be praying for me. He was very kind and his words were very encouraging.

After the service, having heard pastor’s announcement about me, several veterans approached me to wish me luck and to relate some of their stories with me. Attending a large church like I do, I have yet to meet everyone who is a member here. Several of these men I had not previously met, but I was very glad to meet them and to hear them share their testimonies of service with me. They all wanted to know where I was headed to and what I wanted to do. Their faces lit up with smiles as they shook my hand, wished me luck, and promised to pray for me. It was very encouraging.

I am told that during Basic Training, soldiers wait in hopeful anticipation during mail call. I know that I will be encouraged by any mail that I might get, and I have therefore been trying to rally all of my friends and loved ones to write to me while I am gone. Many of my friends have promised to write to me at least once or twice. Some of my friends have agreed to sit down with their girlfriends and write me a letter together with them. My wife has told me that she plans to write me several times per week. I believe her and I hope that she does.

I do extend my invitation for letters to anyone who may read this blog. Some of you are friends and family that I am able to keep in contact with via this blog. Others of you I met through this blog and I now count you among my friends. Whatever category you may fall in, I hope that you will write to me. I will receive my address when I arrive at my receiving station in Fort Benning, GA. I will call my wife with the address and she will make it available to you all.

My letters home will be posted on this blog for the world to see. I will not be able to respond personally to every letter that I receive and have therefore decided to post on the blog all of my letters back home. My wife will copy my letters verbatim (minus anything that is personal between us, of course) and post them on this site. I will respond to letters through this avenue of communication.

Yesterday afternoon, my wife and I and several friends watched the movie “Flyboys.” It was only produced very recently and is a fantastic tribute to the flying soldiers of World War I. It is based on the book of the same name by James Bradley. It is the true story of a squadron of American airmen who went to Europe to join the war even before America joined the war. If you are interested in military history and have not seen this movie, I highly recommend it.

My wife and I want to extend our thanks to every one of you for your kindness and support of us. She will probably be very lonely over the days to come and needs all of the prayer she can get. I know that I have probably sounded like a broken record on this point over the past few days, but I don’t think that I can emphasize enough how important prayer is in the life of a Christian. Please pray.

I will probably not be posting anything tomorrow before I leave so this is going to be my final post and my final farewell. After this post, only letters to and from Boot Camp will be posted.

Thank You and God Bless You All!


In Christ,

Nicholas Cardot