Leaving on a Jet Plane

8-3-09

Sam called us today as he was waiting to board his plane for New York. What a great birthday present for me--to get to talk to him. He called 1/2 hour early at 8:00 am. Kitty arrived at 8:15 and Hillary arrived at 8:30.

It was great to hear his voice and get immediate responses to our questions. Like what is the name of your blog you set up?

He said he had conquered the homesickness until he went by our of-ramp and saw the mountains--then it hit him a bit--then when I had Ditto say hello and listen to Sam talk to him he said he got a little more homesick. I glad I followed the prompting to not go to the airport like we did when Hill left for Guatemala.

Sam told us he has put on weight--but it is only muscle weight. Boy would I like my weight to be only muscle weight. The first 15 missionaries for his mission left 2 hours before him--the remaining 5 including him are on his flight. Apparently they ran out of seats on the first flight. So he was in a companionship of 3 and not with his MTC companion. He was excited to be heading to his actual mission and little nervous as well.

After chatting with us for 45 minutes. We all said our good-byes; Hill gave Sam some good advise about not holding back because he will be the trainee, but take the lead if his companion ends up being a slacker--she didn't and she wished she did. He hung up to call his dad (they talked for about 8 minutes) and then he got something to eat and boarded his flight.

Too bad I din't post this the day I talked to him, I would have remembered more.

Posting from Camile Sam's mom