So first off, I wanted to get down some remembrances of the weeks leading up to her send off.
Maddie wanted to go through the temple as soon as she could after her call arrived. We finally got to the temple on May 7th. Her YW president, Sister Carly Zamora, and her husband came with us. It was a great evening. After, we went to Cheesecake Factory for some late dinner. Going this early allowed Maddie to return many times before she headed out into the mission field. It was a great blessing for her, and she loved being in the temple.
She spoke in church on Father's day, which also happened to be her dad's birthday. She spoke on fatherhood, and gave an amazing talk about what fatherhood means to her. I will post a copy of her talk if I can find it. I have only seen Scott cry several times in the 20 years we have been married, but her talk made him tear up a bit. We were lucky enough to have Maddie's aunt and uncle and paternal grandparents here for the day, so they got to see her speak.
The next week was a whirlwind of shopping and packing. Then we left for a week in Utah before arriving home July 5th. July 7th, Madison was set apart by President Jay Andersen, our stake president. It was an amazing blessing, full of counsel just for Madison. It was a testimony to me that Heavenly Father knows Maddie -- her strengths and weaknesses, and wanted to encourage her to use her strengths and warn her to not allow her weaknesses to keep her from reaching her full potential. We are thankful for President Andersen's inspired blessing. From the moment she was set apart, you could see something different about her. She really did have the mantle of missionary. That night she finished packing and preparing for her departure.
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| Hermana Jorgensen with President and Sister Andersen |
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| The Family on the night of her setting apart. L-R: Sophie, Scott, Noah, Maddie, Megan, Amy, and Sam |
Wednesday July 8th we had to get an early start to the airport. She was scheduled to leave on a 7:20 am flight to Houston, and from there to Mexico City. When we arrived, we were confused to see the United terminal packed with people just standing in line and news crews milling about. We quickly found out that the entire United ticketing and check in system had crashed nation wide, and that they were grounded from flying until their system came up.
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| Waiting patiently (while panicking inside hoping Dad makes it back with my call) for the United Airlines computer system to come back online |
After standing in line for a few minutes, Hermana Jorgensen nervously re-checked her flight paperwork. To her dismay, she read that she needed her original official mission call in order to enter Mexico on the visitor visa that the church had secured for her. Her call was sitting at home in her closet. She panicked. We sent Scott home with the kids (so he could travel in the carpool lane) to grab the call, while we waited for the system to come back up (halfway hoping it wouldn't so Scott could get back with the call). In the meantime, Hermana Jorgensen called the missionary travel office in Salt Lake City to let them know of her flight's delay. The travel office encouraged her to stay and try to make her original flight, unless it looked like she would miss her connection in Houston. Meanwhile, they booked her on a backup flight leaving on Delta at 2 in the afternoon, flying through LAX. I think I mentally prepared myself that she would go out later that afternoon, so I didn't really "say my goodbyes". As Scott pulled into the parking garage with the mission call, the computer system rebooted, and suddenly all of the United representatives were scrambling to get all the passengers on Hermana Jorgensen's flight checked in and up to the gate so they could leave as soon as possible. Within about 10 minutes, she got checked in, grabbed her call, and took off like a shot for the TSA security gate. We were running behind her saying, "Wait! Wait! We need goodbye hugs!" When we finally got her slowed down for a second, we all said a very quick goodbye, and just like that, she was gone.
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| The only photo we managed to get of her as she sped off through security to make her flight |
We got an email late that night from her. It was short and sweet. This is what it said:
Hey Mom and Dad,
I made it! I am safe and sound at the MTC here in Mexico City. The trip was long, but I made a few new friends along the way. I miss you guys tons and I love you bunches. The next time I will be able to email you is on my P-day, next Thursday. I am sure I will have tons of new stories to tell you once next Thursday rolls around. I love you all so much. Give the littles tons of hugs and kisses from me.
Adios!
Hermana Jorgensen
We are looking forward to hearing from her on Thursdays. We know this first week is a tough one, but we also know she will be fine. She's pretty awesome like that.
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