Before her mission, we bought Sierra a Tracfone and some minutes so she could call us from the airport. Knowing there are limited payphones these days in airports, we thought that was the best way to do things. I still think so, even though it was a bit of a stress making sure her phone was activated. We didn't want to activate it before she left for the MTC because it's just not appropriate for a missionary to have a phone; So Monday morning was a little stressful for me, trying to activate her phone from here, but being unable to do it because you have to be in possessions of the phone to activate it. So anyone sending a missionary out ... I say go ahead and get it activated and don't worry about it ... at least you know they'll be able to call you as soon as they're ready at the airport!
So Azure and I spent Memorial Day morning alternately cleaning the house and praying that Sierra would be able to activate the phone. When my phone jingled and an unknown number popped up we were so excited! I picked up the phone:
"SIERRA!"
"Hi mommy", sob, sob, sob. On both ends. We're cryers.
"Hey baby .. we miss you. But WOW! This is so exciting!"
And then we put it on speaker phone and plopped down on the floor to chat.
It was glorious. Her MTC experience was all we knew it would be. And true to Chapman form, she loved the food there :) She ranted and raved about her amazing district, her perfect companion, her great teachers. She told us all about her district in Norwegian. We talked about feelings, tender feelings. It was so fun to hear her voice as she recounted some of the funny experiences she'd written about. We laughed and we cried.
I'm a big cryer, yes. But Azure was worse :)
We knew we had to share her time as the family, this day, was all over the United States. She got to talk to everyone, including grandparents, except for Bryan. Boy! that will be a great reunion when they're both home from their missions! Bryan and Sierra were pretty much raised as twins ... they grew up doing absolutely everything together: weaning from bottles, getting drivers licenses, dating ... really, everything.
Anyway, we got to speak with her while she was at the Salt Lake airport and then again at DFW. And yes. It was killer hard saying good-bye when she was boarding the plane for London. Plus, Azure and I were in Target at the time (a good distraction ... hehehehe). So teary-eyed, we exited the store and decided again to totally spoil each other.
We're so excited for Sierra. Oh! An interesting point: She's traveling to Norway with 4 elders and 16 other sisters. There are currently only 12 sister missionaries in Norway. This means those already there will be doubling up on training and many companionships will actually consist of 2 new sisters and one seasoned sister. Can't wait to hear where and with whom Sierra is serving! (PS - she hopes to start out in Bergen ... we'll see!)
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