Off on a Great Adventure (At 3:00 in the Morning)

December 3, 2019

This is Jonathan's mom. I'm just posting my thoughts on Jonathan leaving for the Mexico MTC. His travel plans said that his flight left at 5:30 am and to be at the airport 2 hours early. (One of the letters even said to be there 3 hours early for an international flight, but we decided it couldn't be THAT busy at 3:30 am.) We were up late packing the night before, but after a little rearranging, both suitcases came in under 50 pounds. We got up at 2:40 am, ate a quick breakfast, then left around 3:00 am for the airport.

Just as we thought, the airport wasn't very busy. There was a LONG line at the American Airlines counter, which didn't end up opening until 4:00 am, so we waited in line for 40 minutes. There were quite a few missionaries there, but not as many as I thought there would be. A big group came in from FrontRunner/TRAX from the Provo MTC, so that was a lot of fun. We saw a lot of families there to see their missionary off, but our kids had all been together the night before the setting apart and dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe, so they opted out of the airport experience. It was just Dave and I and Jonathan. We got a lot of talking and goodbyes in while waiting in line, so when it came time for him to go through TSA, we just hugged and got a little teary, but not too much, then he turned and left. We watched him go through TSA before going home.

We noticed a little family--father, mother, and younger brothers and sisters--all huddled around the TSA gate saying goodbye to their missionary--they were all crying, and the missionary was sniffling a little bit. When we came up and said goodbye to Jonathan, he took a deep breath, said one last goodbye, then turned and walked away. He caught up with Jonathan, and it did my heart good to see them start chatting and laughing together. I saw Jonathan show him what documents to get out and have ready and I thought, "He's going to be OK."

All ready to go at 3:30 am

Making friends in the TSA line

Family at the setting apart at River Oaks Stake Center

Here's his first email:

Hola! Como estas? I have just barely made it to the Mexico MTC, or the CCM as they call it here. Both flights were good, we made our connection to Dallas with plenty of time and then made it to Mexico City no problem. There are three other people from Phoenix that are also going to Comodoro, so that's exciting! 

My companion's name is Elder Cornelius. I haven't met him yet, but he sounds like a cool guy! I'm in the 7th Branch and District C (I don't know what that means either) and my P day is on Wednesdays. Apparently I leave for Argentina on the 7th of January, so I won't be here very long. 

That's it for now, pictures coming next week. We don't have our P day yet, so I'll write a general email next Wednesday. 

Thanks for all your love and support! :)