Traveling to the Mission Field or Are We There Yet?

I made plans with Katrina to meet at Teresa's house so we could begin our trip to Washington, D.C. from there.  I arrived in American Fork ahead of Katrina so I went over to Maceys and bought a few things for the trip and filled the tank with gas.  I pulled up to Teresa's just a few minutes before Katrina called and said her car broke down.  I pictured having to drive to Spanish Fork or something to pick her up and help her with her car.  But she was just a few blocks behind me by the building called Noah.  She coaxed her car to drive a little farther and arrived in just a few minutes.  We transferred her things to my car, loaded a Styrofoam cooler with a few things, and said our goodbyes to Teresa and her boys.  We got on the road about 5:00 p.m., a little behind schedule, but still excited for the adventure ahead. 

We had a hotel room reserved in Laramie, Wyoming for this first night, but figured we may not make it that far now, so as we drove Katrina looked for a place closer.  Our second choice was a place in Rawlins, WY so that became our goal.  We were hopeful that we could stop for a minute and see Sherri and the boys when we drove through Lyman, WY but they were not at home.  I told her I would try again in two years.  Maybe I will see them sooner if they are able to travel to Washington, D.C. in a year or so.  We arrived safely in Rawlins about 10:30 p.m. grateful that the Lord had guided and watched over us on our drive.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

We woke early, showered, ate breakfast and were on our way by about 8:00 a.m.  The day was pretty uneventful.  We had planned to go as far as Lincoln, Nebraska and then go down to I-70.  We had a hotel room reserved in Kansas City Independence Hampton. 

I called my mom to wish her a happy birthday, but she was not responsive enough to talk to me.  Dick said she was not having a very good day.  In fact, she has gone down quite a bit since I saw her in April 2012.  Over the last few months her strength has declined, and they use a wheelchair to get her to the table and the bathroom.  She spends more time in bed.  When she is sitting, she tilts her head back and to the side and it is difficult for Pat and Dick to even get her to sit up straight.  She cannot swallow solid food any longer so they feed her liquid meals such as Carnation Instant Breakfast with a banana blended in.  She doesn't communicate as much but occasionally will respond to their questions.  I could not get her to respond today when I called to wish her happy birthday and tell her I love her.  Dick said that they don't expect her to live much longer.  It made me sad to think that I may not be able to be there for her funeral, but I will just have to wait and see.  Maybe I will be able to fly home.  I will have to fly at my own expense.  The funeral will be in Elko like Dad's was.  We will just wait and see I guess.

As we approached Lincoln, Nebraska, we talked to Alex on the phone and decided that we could cut off a little travel time by continuing a more northerly route to Columbus, so this we did.  Katrina canceled the Independence hotel and booked a room in St. Joseph, Missouri instead.  We were fortunate to get the room, as there was an event in St. Joseph (the receptionist called it a "high-profile weekend") and they were nearly full.  We arrived in St. Joseph about 10:30 p.m. and got to sleep about 12:00 after looking for a place to possibly attend Sacrament Meeting the following day. 

Sunday, July 28, 2013

We determined that if we got up early enough and on our way by about 7:00 a.m. we would able to make it to Hannibal, Missouri where we found a small branch that meets at 10:00 a.m.  We finally left the hotel about 7:30.  It would be a very tight schedule but we might make it, howbeit a few minutes late.  The GPS said 10:08 arrival time.  I drove a little faster than I was comfortable with to try and shave a few minutes off our trip.  We arrived at 10:03.  As we walked in they were singing the last verse of the opening hymn.  We had calculated the previous night that we had about 11 hours to drive today, and adding in an hour and 30 minutes for church would put us at Alex's quite late in the evening.  What I didn't take into account when I was calculating was the 2 1/2 hours that we would have behind us by the time we stopped for church.  After a short tour through Hannibal (the boyhood home of Samuel Clemens a.k.a. Mark Twain) we continued our journey.  We didn't take time to see the sights, but it was fun to see the atmosphere of the town and say that we had been in Hannibal.

When we got on the road once more and set the GPS for Alex's address, we were pleasantly surprised to see that we could arrive as early as 7:15 p.m.  Taking into account the fact that we still had one more time zone change, that would make it 8:15.  At some point along the way, we called Heidi to wish her a happy birthday.  She didn't answer her phone, so we just sang happy birthday to her voicemail.  We stopped just before Indianapolis to get gas, and Katrina asked if she was ever going to get a chance to drive, so I gave in and let her drive.  It took a bit for her to get used to the stick shift (manual transmission), but she was given a 15 minute practice session shifting from 1st to 2nd as we were stuck in a bottleneck of traffic due to our exit being closed.  We proceeded the 1 1/2 miles to the next exit at a snail pace and then were good to go the rest of the way.  Our new arrival time was now 8:40.  She did a great job of keeping us on course and we arrived at Alex's at about 8:42 p.m.

We enjoyed a meal that they had prepared for us, ate some cookies and fruit, and then brought in our luggage.  We discovered that the Styrofoam container we were using was not as waterproof as I thought it was.  The ice had slowly melted and seeped through the container and completely soaked my back seat cushions.  I hope it will dry before it mildews in this climate.

By this time it was about 10:00 p.m.  Although their kids were up quite a bit longer than their usual 8:00 bedtime, we took the time to sit down and read some verses in the Book of Mormon together before we went to bed.  As we prepared for bed, we could hear Alex reading to the kids from the "Little House" series, The Long Winter.  I always enjoy spending time with my children and seeing how they interact and teach and love their children.  They are such good parents.  They have learned some very important parenting skills, and I sometimes wonder where they learned them.  I have learned much more from them than I have been able to teach them.  I am so grateful for family.  Mine is the best!!

Monday, July 29, 2013

Katrina and I planned our travel itinerary to allow us to spend another day with Alex's family, even though Alex had to work.  Today Laura planned an outing at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium so that Graham and Emma could share with Katrina and I some of their favorite animals.  

The weather was very nice and we had a good time at the zoo.  Laura told us it is one of the best in the country.  It is a non-profit zoo in a beautiful setting.  I think we walked several miles as Graham and Emma chose where we would go and Laura would lead us there, pushing Reed and one of the other kids at times in the stroller.

Lunch time just might have been the kids' favorite part of all:)

Well, all good things must come to an end.  We left about 4:00 or 5:00 so we could go home and fix dinner.  Heidi's family (also moving to Maryland this week) arrived about the time we got dinner ready and we ate together and then had some caramel turtle ice cream cake served with Rocky Road ice cream to celebrate Heidi's birthday yesterday.  We still kept Alex's family up a little too late but not as late as the night before.  Katrina and I will be leaving fairly early in the morning so we can get to Waldorf at a decent hour.  I was told that I didn't need to stop at the Mission Office, since President Cooke is pretty busy and won't be able to interview me until later so we will drive a slightly different route to my apartment in Waldorf, going south and around D.C. instead of north.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Katrina and I woke up and prepared for our last day of driving and said our goodbyes to Laura and the kids.  When we fueled the car and got on our way, the GPS calculated that we would arrive at my apartment approximately 5:00 p.m.  Add in a couple stops for fuel and food, and that had us arriving at about 6:00.  We went up and met my companion, Sister Dorinda Boone, and then the three of us unloaded the car and took the luggage to our third-floor apartment.  It is a clean, comfortable place.  Each of us has our own bedroom and bathroom, which is nice.  I would share if I had to, but it is much nicer to each have our own space.

Sister Boone loaned us her air mattress for Katrina.  Before we set things up and unpacked, Katrina and I went to get some dinner.  We found a Café Rio and enjoyed one last meal together before her Wednesday morning departure.  Then we went to a Safeway across the street and bought a few groceries and cleaning supplies as it appeared that Sister Boone and I would keep our expenses separated and even eat our meals separately.  Maybe that will change as we get used to living together.  Sister Boone has been living alone for the last two years since her husband died.  Even though I have had children living with me since Verlin died six years ago, I tried to help with expenses so that I would not be a burden on them and bought some of my own groceries.  Now I will get used to new living arrangements and a new companion.  Sister Boone seems like a very nice lady.  I look forward to getting to know her.  

While we were out (about 7:00 p.m.) Pat called me in tears and told me that Mom was dying.  Pat felt so bad about how much pain Mom seemed to be suffering.  She called us to see if we could pray with her that Mom could be released from her mortal journey now. I continued through the evening with a prayer in my heart and then knelt down by my bed sometime close to midnight and prayed for Mom. 

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

About 4:20 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time Dee called to say that Mom had died about 10:00 p.m. Pacific Time (about an hour after I went to bed).  I was relieved but wondered at the unfortunate timing of her death.  It may sound selfish, but I had prayed that Mom would be able to go sooner so that I would be able to go to the funeral before leaving on my mission, realizing that as usual all things would work out for our good.  In thinking about it afterwards, I realized that this week was probably the best time for Katrina to come and help me get my car to Maryland.  Sister Boone assured me that everything would work out and that I should plan on going home for the funeral.  I set that aside until later and worked on getting Katrina to the airport on time.  Her flight was around 11:00 a.m. so we planned to leave in time to get her to the airport two hours earlier.  Sister Boone volunteered to drive us there since I was not at all used to driving in the area and it was a little tricky getting to the Reagan Airport.  I didn't object one bit.  Although the traffic was slow in spots, we arrived in good time.  I gave Katrina a two-year hug and wished her a safe journey home.  Sister Boone has an interesting way of approaching D.C. traffic.  She has learned to be aggressive at times moving in and out of traffic and sometimes inattentive (mostly due to my talking to her instead of letting her concentrate on the road), which makes for an interesting trip.  We arrived back home safely and I was able to settle in a little bit more.  About an hour later, I received a call from Anson.  I had missed a call from him earlier checking in to see if we were going to be able to get together at the airport when Katrina flew back.  It turns out that Anson was attending a conference in Washington, D.C. and was flying back today, also from Reagan Intl Airport.  His flight was going out at about 5:45.  I told him that we had just returned home from dropping off Katrina.  Sister Boone said she would drive me back AGAIN so that I could hang out with Anson for a couple hours.  She is so sweet.  We made plans and left to return to Reagan Airport.

We met Anson at the airport and drove to Mount Vernon, which is about a half-hour drive from the airport.  The traffic wasn't too bad so we made pretty good time.  We calculated that we should probably leave 30-45 minutes before the time Anson should be at the airport to allow him to get through security and to his plane for boarding.  Because it wasn't too busy when we arrived, we were able to get in line for the tour through the Mansion and made it through about the right time to head back to the airport.  It was fun to spend a little time with Anson.  The mansion was much better than most "Pioneer" homes that I have seen.  The items in the home were among the original inventory of the house after President George Washington's death.

We could take pictures of the outside of the house and the grounds but not inside the mansion.  Here are a few pictures that I took.  I especially like the fancy "Necessary".  We would call it an Outhouse or Privy.

The Mansion

View of the Potomac River at the back of the mansion 

Anson and the Potomac

As we went through the house I realized that one of my ancestors, Ann Pope Washington, may have been in that home at some time in her life.  Sister Boone was anxious about getting Anson back to the airport on time, but Anson tried to reassure her that he would make it just fine, and he did.  Great for that.

I felt a little lost after Katrina and Anson had both gone home.  I was reminded of the emptiness I felt after my mom and dad drove me 400 miles to Rexburg, Idaho and dropped me off to begin my college career at Ricks College.  It was a lonely feeling.  I was beginning to wonder why I thought I could serve a two-year mission far from my family and ward friends of 28 years.  What, I wondered, am I supposed to do here?  I still felt that the Lord wanted me to be serving in the Washington, D.C. Mission but it is not quite what I expected.  We will not be doing as much teaching as I thought, at least not as we learned it in the MTC.  Hopefully we will still have many opportunities to serve the sisters in the Wards we are assigned to and share our testimonies with them by example and with love.  I am here for a purpose, and with the Lord's help, I will find out what it is.