It was unbelievably hard to say goodbye to Alyssa. What do you say to your child, or sister, as you say goodbye to her, knowing that you will not get to hug her again for 18 months. We got to the airport around noon and get her bags checked quickly. We had about an hour of sitting with each other in the waiting area before sending her through security.
When it was time for her to go, she hugged her grandparents in the waiting area.
The rest of us walked with her to security. This pictures make me so sad because the kids were crying all afternoon after saying goodbye to her.
I don't have the picture with me because it is on Danny's phone. We waved goodbye and watched her come out on the other side of security. Then we started to pray that she would arrive safely.
Alyssa made this for Camden before she left when he was sad and he carried it around with him for the next week.
Three excruciatingly long days later, we found pictures of her on Facebook at the MTC. Shortly before we saw the pictures, we had a couple of emails from Alyssa telling us when p-day was and letting us know that she would be calling later that day to get our help connecting to her Facebook account on her new phone (she needed a code sent to her phone at home)
As you can see from the pictures, she was one of the few Americans in the MTC the whole time she was there. She was also one of the tallest (only a few elders and one sister were taller or the same height as her for the entire 9 weeks). Little by little, we have been able to get information from her about her trip there. The layover in San Francisco was long. She did a lot of pondering and crying, I'm sure Someone bought her dinner at the airport. We wished he had taken a picture of her and sent it to us, but oh well. She also had a guy on her flight hit on her and ask her to meet up with him when she gets back to the states. The flight was long, but she said she was able to sleep on it. When she got to the airport in Manila, her bags were not there. She filed a report with baggage claim and then had an awkward 2 hour drive with a driver to a hotel in Manila. Eventually, she met up with another American missionary (an Elder) and they walked around a bit to kill the time. That Elder ended up being in her district and they became good friends. She arrived at the MTC the next day and they told her they would send us word that she had arrived (but we never got anything). Her bags took 4 days to arrive, but her companion let her borrow stuff and the MTC Presidents wife gave her some clothing. Her district had 2 brothers from Africa, 3 sisters from Pakistan one of them ended up being her companion), the American Elder, a Sister from Austrailia, and a Sister from New Zealand. Once her bags arrived, things got much better for her.
