Yesterday we learned that Colby would be able to call us this morning before he headed out to Oklahoma, needless to say we were excited! I was a little nervous, wondering if I could say goodbye all over again, and worried that I wouldn't hear the phone ring this morning (our only phone is downstairs, and it's hard to hear it when it rings.) We thought he would be calling before 6:00 am. He had to be at the travel office at 3:00 am to get to the airport to make his 5:55 am flight to Denver. So I expected an early phone call. I woke up at 5:50, and panicked! Did the phone ring, and I didn't hear it? Is he going to even call? Needless to say I spent the next little while straining to hear the phone, and "sleep" at the same time. I have one ear, that since my tumor removal last summer, still doesn't hear very well, so I layed on my back, and propped up my pillows so my ears were both available to hear any noise at all. Pathetic, I know, but I didn't want to miss it! I must have dozed periodically, because each time I looked at the clock about half an hour had passed. Finally at 8:00 the phone rang!
I lept (don't you love that word?) from my bed, ran down the stairs, and grabbed the phone and it was COLBY!! It was SO good to hear his voice! He sounded truly wonderful! He was in Denver, with a few other Elders and two Sisters who are all headed to Oklahoma. He has a layover there for a few hours, after which more missionaries will join them, and they will ALL head to the Oklahoma Mission together. (As I type this he is on his next flight from Denver to Tulsa) His whole district at the MTC is headed to the Oklahoma Tulsa Mission. Pretty cool, if you ask me =) I thought he might end up flying by himself.
He had a funny story about packing his luggage, and an encounter he had at the security check... I had his luggage all packed correctly when he left home, one suitcase for the MTC, the other he wouldn't have to touch until he got out in the field. I even had his backpack all packed as his carry on so he would have what he needed for the mission home stay, and still be able to get through airport security (small bottle of shampoo, body wash, etc, in the ziplock bag) anyway, in his panic to get packed and keep his luggage under 50 lbs, he ended up carrying on his first aid kit that I had packed in one of his suitcases. (The mission home one, which he didn't even need to get into, grrr...) =) He didn't think about it until he got to security and tried to get through with a rather large bottle of peroxide =) He was so embarrassed! The security lady just laughed and said, "Sorry Elder, I've got to take this..." good thing peroxide is cheap. AND after all that stressing over how much the luggage weighed, the airlines didn't even weigh it! He was a little ticked, that he could have shoved his first aid kit in and not worried about it, instead of dragging it with him all day today... oh well, at least he's prepared for any emergency =)
While we were talking on the phone I asked him if the other missionaries were on the other phones around him also calling their families... he told me there was only one phone, and that while they were waiting for their turn (they each got 20 minutes. we talked for 20 minutes 23 seconds =) they were talking to investigators! He looked at the cover of the pamphlet they were showing to someone, and said "yup, that's the pamphlet on the Atonement! They found an investigator!" Too funny! They didn't waste any time at all getting down to business.
He lands in Tulsa about 12:30 our time, and will probably spend today, and possible tomorrow there. We are so excited he's finally on his way. He is an exceptional young man, and we are so very proud of him. We love you, Elder Haymond!
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