From a missionary Mom's perspective...
I woke up on Wednesday morning and checked the flight tracker for Lucy's first flight. She left Puerto Rico right on time and landed in Houston. Then I checked the flight from Houston to Minneapolis...delayed. She was only going to have 20 minutes to get to the next flight. I started to worry. Austin told me it would all work out. Jill and Hanna told me she was a wizard and could do it.
Then as I kept checking her departing flight from Houston, it showed two more delayed starting times. There was no way she was going to make her third flight. So I tried to figure out what we could do. The hardest part was that missionaries don't go home with a phone, so there was no way to contact her. I looked at possible flights and saw that there was a flight to Calgary from Houston that she could possible switch to. I called Church Travel and they said they could only switch it if we could get a hold of Lucy. So I tried everything I could think of. I called the airport 4 times and asked them to page her and give her a message to call her mom. I tried calling the airline. I put in on Facebook to see if anyone was at the Houston airport. I asked my friend Keri who works for Delta. I prayed and prayed.
She finally left Houston, and so our next prayer was that her flight from Minneapolis would be delayed a few minutes. I watched both flights. We decided to even start driving to Great Falls in case she made the flight. But we only got 30 minutes from home and we knew she missed the flight.
Then we just had to wait for Lucy to call us. She told us that she had prayed the whole flight that she would make the connection. When she got there and saw that she had missed her flight, she went to the bathroom and cried. Then she sat on a chair and cried. Then she finally asked a nice lady if she could use her phone to call us. A very long hour later, she called us and through tears said, "hi, mom. I missed my flight." I know you did. Then I told her that she needed to call Church Travel and call us back. She did and they told her she needed to go talk to Delta customer service to get her ticket reissued and they would help get her a hotel. I guess I should say the part that Austin actually took the phone from me and gave her instructions and a pep talk that she could do it.
The lady she borrowed a phone from said, "I'm sorry you missed your flight. Do you need a tissue?" She gave Lucy two kleenex. When Lucy got to the ticket counter, another lady was crying so she gave the second tissue to the other lady.
A very nice lady named Ruby was at the Delta ticket counter and was so helpful and kind. She registered her for a flight for the next day, reserved a hotel room for her, and walked her to the airport shuttle. Lucy told her she was returning from a mission, and Ruby asked her about FamilySearch. Lucy gave her a Book of Mormon.
Lucy got to the hotel and got checked in and called us. We talked for about 45 minutes and we both felt better.
We got an email from Church Travel with her new flight plans that the fastest flight was still to Great Falls (Calgary was also an option), we called Jill and Hanna and asked if they just wanted to stay the night in Great Falls or come to Cardston. They decided to stay instead of coming here and going back the next day.
Jill and Hanna convinced us to come spend the afternoon with them even though Lucy's flight didn't get there until 5:30 pm. So we drove down the next morning and met Jill and Hanna for lunch and did some shopping before we went to the airport.
Lucy slept okay. She had the hotel give her a wake up call at 6:30 am because she is still a missionary. She woke up and did a little exercise, had a shower and put her same clothes back on because all she had was a backpack. She ate breakfast at the hotel. All she ate on her first travel day was a pastry and chips that she got on her flights. Then a granola bar she had brought.
She took the hotel airport shuttle back to the airport and still had 3 hours until her flight. She did meet some other missionaries who were headed home to Utah from their missions in South Dakota. Her flight to Salt Lake was on time with no problems.
Then she went to her next gate and met a nice couple from Montana that had worked at the Cardston Temple. The wife sent me a facebook message that they had met a tired missionary who was excited to come home. Tears. Then I said to myself, where were you in Houston when I needed you..... But thankful Lucy had someone to talk to.
I kept checking Lucy's last flight and they were loaded 15 minutes early but didn't take off for quite a while. Lucy told us that the computer on the plane wasn't working so they had to turn off the plane and restart it. She was praying that the flight wouldn't be delayed. It finally took off and they landed right on time.
We were so excited to see her through the window and then met her at the hallway where she came out. After 18 months and an extra travel day, we were so excited to see her.
We each hugged her and she met her new nieces, Paisley and Charlotte. Will's first words to Lucy were, "Lucy, do you have any money?" He wanted to get a bouncy ball out of the vending machine.
We got her bags and stopped for a quick dinner and headed back to Cardston. We got in the car and Lucy said, "Do you want a back?" She wanted to stand and help us back out like missionaries do whenever they back up.
When we got to Cardston, we stopped at the stake center so Lucy could get released. President Ferguson gave permission for Austin to release her. She bore her testimony and then it was time to take her nametag off. She did it!! She served a mission for Jesus Christ to the people of Puerto Rico.
Brother Joe Paulsen had left a case of Fairlife protein milk, licorice and popcorn with a welcome home sign at the stake center. Grandpa & Grandma Nunn put up some yellow balloons and some welcome home signs.
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