It's been 9
weeks. Nine weeks since Syd went into the MTC (Missionary Training Center).
I've heard from most missionary moms that the last few months are the looongest
for them, but I've heard from missionaries, themselves, that the last several months of the
mission fly by for them. So, with that in mind - since I am much more concerned
about my kiddo being unsafe or sad or lonely or homesick or just plain sick,
than I am about us missing her (which we do, tremendously), I've decided that
after the 1st 52 weeks, I can be much less worried about most of those things.
Therefore, I am only counting down the 1st 52 weeks! :) Which means Sydney's
already almost 1/5 of the way through. See how I cope. ;) Well, this week has
been an eventful one. She made it from the Utah MTC to Japan in one piece with
a few bumps along the way. Missionaries are allowed to call family from the
airport, if they have time, and unfortunately, Sydney did not have much time.
Since we did not know exactly what day or time she would be leaving (she
thought she'd told us, but if she did, it was in Japanese — which, is not one
of the many languages I speak - do you sense my snarkasm in that?) Yes, we
weren't happy about that, but diligently and faithfully slept with the phone by
our ears for a couple nights around the time we knew she would probably be
leaving. And then, one early, early morning, we got the call. Yes, she was at
the airport. Yes, she had gotten all her stuff into her luggage. (She had gone
to the MTC with luggage stuffed to the brim and weight limit, and I had since
sent her stuff). Yes, her bags were still under weight (well, 1 lb over but
they did not charge her). Yes, she had her Yen with her (thoughtfully provided
by her Uncle Clint who was the only one with foresight to covert some cash into
Japanese currency even though we've all traveled internationally in the past.)
Yes, she knew where her gate was, etc, etc, and yes, she had almost no time to talk
because everything had taken longer than expected, and her companion still
needed to get something to eat before they took off. But not to worry, she told
me quickly before hanging up after just a minute on the phone, she would be
able to call me on her layover in Oregon and have time to say hello to
everyone. That would complicate things — her dad would be at work, and siblings
would be at school. I calculated logistics of a 5-way conference call and
alerted the family while I waited for the next hour when we would hear from her. 1
hour went by. Then another 1/2. Then I started counting minutes. Over 2 hours
went by and though the worry never set in, the disappointment did. That was our
1 chance to talk to her until Christmas. (Christmas and Mother's Day are the
only other magical days of her 1 1/2 yr mission that we would be able to hear
her voice. And she would be able to hear ours - which I sensed was probably
more important at the moment.) And then the phone rang. I snatched it up (as
all missionary families do - if you know any who seem like they are taking it
all in stride, they are faking it :D) and heard a wavering voice on the other
end. Sydney had obviously put as much hope into this phone call as we had, and
it wasn't going to happen. Her plane had been delayed from Utah, so they had
arrived in Oregon late, with just enough time to make the transfer. She was on
the next flight already, and as I got her dad on the conference line (there
wasn't enough time to contact any of the siblings), we could barely hear her as
the announcements began blasting through the cabin over the din of the engine.
Bless the beautiful soul who kindly gave her his cell phone to make the call to
at least tell us what had happened so we wouldn't be waiting a day, with no word,
before getting the "I have arrived safely" 2 sentence email that
she'd be able to send once she got to Japan. My 19yr old. Bless that man.
Angels among us. He's had more prayers said for him over the last couple days
than he's ever had in his life. :) I have to say it was awful hearing the
sadness in Syd's voice, saying she only had seconds to say she loved us and goodbye, but I wouldn't have given up that phone call for the
world. We hung up, and I passed the news onto the rest of the family. There
were tears over the missed chance, and repeated "why?"s from frustrated
siblings who had been waiting for the call for days, as we all had. Sooooo, oh,
you can imagine the joy when we got an unexpected phone call in the middle of
the night, after Syd's day-long flight to Japan. "Mom, I'm in the airport
in Tokyo. I didn't know we were going to have a layover before a local flight
to another city, but we do. It was 4 hours long, but I spent the last 2 1/2
hours trying to get the international calling card to work. The phones weren't
taking it, here, but I finally found another place that sells local cards, and
it worked! We won't have a lot of time because they are so expensive, but we
can talk!! I've got about 20 minutes." And with that, the phone got passed
around to each person in the house who pulled themselves from a sleep-drugged
state to happily, happily, happily talk to "the other piece that's been
missing" from our little family. It was such a blessing to listen in on
the conversations. Gone was the wavering voice; the disappointment and the frustration.
She sounded wonderful. She sounded excited and determined and intelligent and
confident. She sounded exuberant. She sounded like herself. She loved it there immediately, as she knew she would since she 1st got her mission call - as we all
knew she would. She is in her element and is excited to get to work. We did get
the 2 sentence "I made it safely" email after she got settled into
her living quarters then next day. Along with the added, "I love it here,
and I love my new companion!" She'll be amazing - if for no other reason
than because she loves the place and the people, sincerely. She's lucky to be
there, but even more, Japan is lucky to have her.
Important commentary from Sydney regarding this picture :) : "Quick thing--you might want to use a little discretion in posting this picture, because of the hands. It TOTALLY looks like my hand is on
Panganiban's shoulder (but that is actually C. Chourou's hand) and that
C. Chourou's hand is on my shoulder (it's really douryou's - my companion's). So...
Um... I laughed really hard, but looks, at 1st, are misleading." For those of you who don't know, missionaries are not suppose to hug or touch members of the opposite sex in any affectionate or intimate way - including hands on shoulders. Sydney just wanted to make sure that everyone is aware that she is following protocol! :)