A pocket full of memories

I think my parents were surprised at how much I brought home from my mission. But, hey — a person can accumulate a lot of stuff over two years!

 

Flying turkeys

You may be aware that starting next spring, TSA will require that you have either a passport or a REAL ID endorsement to board a domestic flight. 

You may also be aware that domesticated turkeys, generally speaking, can’t fly. Wild turkeys are able to fly short distances. Turkish Airlines, on the other hand, flies all over the world. 

That’s a lot of work for one little cartoon!
 

Flying the friendly skies

We just got back from taking a group of students to Europe for a spring break trip. It was mostly fun — except for the trip home. 

For some unexplained reason, the airlines couldn't access the tickets for half of our group. They were paid for, they were visible in the system. But none of the airlines could print boarding passes because someone else had them locked in the system. At one time we had six people from three different major airlines — Lufthansa, United and Air Canada — on a conference call trying get our boarding passes to print. And it was the same with each connection!

Each time they were able to print out boarding passes and we made it just in time to catch the flight, but then we had to do it all again at the next airport.

We all made it home, all on time, and all on the same flight. We even had all of our luggage! But what a crazy ride!

 

Leaving on a jet plane

Leaving the mission field is one of the most bittersweet days a missionary will ever experience. There's the excitement of going back home to friends and family, but there's the sadness of leaving behind the people you've loved, worked with, lived with and prayed for — and you don't know when you might ever see them again.

But like many things we experience in life, it's a just another step.

One of the elders from my mission wrote a parody of Leaving on a Jet Plane* that summed up his feelings about the experience:

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go. 
I'm standing here beside the door.
I have to wake you up to say goodbye.
But the dawn is breaking, it's early morn.
The taxi's not waiting, it's blowing its horn —
Already I'm so trunky I could die! 

So write to me and I'll pray for you,
But the girls are waiting at BYU;
When you come home I'll wear a wedding ring!
'Cause I'm trunky, that's my name son —
Going home to have a little fun.Oh, boy, I can't wait to go...

There's more, but that's as much as I remember.

We're saying goodbye to a great group of elders who are leaving our mission this week. They're fantastic! They will be missed...but a mission is only the beginning!

*This is a John Denver version, he wrote the song. It was popularized by Peter, Paul and Mary.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

When we took our students to Europe last year, one of the kids was wearing a French Club shirt. The shirt looked great -- it was silver paint on a black tee. Problem was, the silver paint was metallic...which set off the metal detectors at security!

After the second airport we had a quick wardrobe change. Lesson learned!

Blanket coverage