Elder May is Home!!!!!

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

We found out today that the church was able to get all of the North American missionaries who are in Bolivia on the Embassy flight tomorrow afternoon. They’ll let us know tomorrow morning what time he’ll get into Phoenix. He gets into Miami tomorrow night at 10pm and will stay in a hotel. We talked to him for 20 minutes. He gets to take two suitcases and a carry-on and a personal item so it won’t be too hard for him to pack but he will have to leave some stuff behind. We told him he would just have to use his best judgment. I’m sure he’ll figure it out. I think he’s getting over the sadness of leaving early and getting excited to come home. I know we’re excited for him to be here! We got an email from the church office in Peru after midnight that had Nathaniel’s itinerary.  He leaves Miami at noon and changes planes in Detroit and arrives in Phoenix at 7:01pm.

Thursday, April 2, 2020

A little after noon, I decided to go on Delta.com so that I could sign up for flight alerts tomorrow, and the Miami to Detroit flight was cancelled!  I replied to the guy who emailed me the itinerary and also emailed President Stanford.  He told me I should call the travel office so I did.  The lady was very nice and she helped me look up his flight information with his confirmation code.  They had already put him on a different flight leaving Miami at 2:30pm and going through Atlanta and arriving in Phoenix at 6:47pm.  Yay!  Crisis averted!  I was concerned about him being told about the change but President Stanford said that someone would be in Miami to tell him. I found out later that President Stanford was actually able to tell him at the airport in Santa Cruz before he left. There was another missionary from his mission going to Phoenix so they both knew about the flight change.  

At the church offices, getting ready to leave

Santa Cruz airport

Elder May with President and Sister Stanford

Someone posted a video on Facebook of all the North American missionaries leaving Santa Cruz.  I was so happy I cried.  I couldn’t find Nathaniel in the crowd but Michael spotted him right away.  Nathaniel later said that the video was on the news and there were reporters there interviewing the missionaries. 

Their flight was supposed to leave at 3pm but it didn’t leave until after 7pm.  They won’t get in until almost 3am.  One of the parents on our Bolivia Santa Cruz Missionary parents Facebook page posted some info from the mission president for the Santa Cruz North mission.  He said, “Heaven and earth were actually moved and the North Americans took off around 7pm.  There were no problems other than fatigue and hunger after many hours standing in line at the airport while two airport officials wrote boarding passes one by one, by hand, for 400 passengers!  About three hundred other lucky folks got to travel with the missionaries on a flight chartered by the church.  Imagine the influence your noble children are having along the way!”  I kept my phone on all night in case Nathaniel called but he wasn't able to. 

Friday, April 3, 2020

I was thinking Nathaniel might call us from Miami but he didn’t. I’m sure there were a lot of missionaries so it would be hard to find someone to let him use a phone since there are more missionaries than other travelers. I had a long list of tasks to get done and I got it all done. We all got ready to go and left the house at 4:45pm. We made it to the airport by 5:30pm. Everything was super empty there. 

We easily parked in the closest spot to the door.  We hung out there for an hour waiting for him. Once the plane landed it took a little time for him to get to us. We had our tripod ready and our signs. Daniel was in charge of pressing record and he did a good job. Elder May was one of the first ones off of his flight and we spotted him right away and waved. He smiled when he saw us. As soon as he passed the Do Not Enter and came out, I ran over and gave him a hug. I was in tears, I was so happy! So were Michael and Emily.  Michael gave him a big hug and then all of the kids. He looked a little shell-shocked but I know he was glad to see us. 

We took some pictures and then went down to get his bags which we were able to do very quickly because they were already there. I took a couple more individual pictures with Nathaniel and the kids and me and Michael. 

The kids had fun talking and laughing with him on the way home. I told him the next thing he needed to do was decide what he wanted to eat for dinner. I had even put “Whatever Nathaniel Wants” on the Mom, What’s for Dinner board.  

He was having a hard time so I started suggesting places and he said he wanted to go to Panda Express. I ordered the food so that we could pick it up on the way home. As we drove home, he tried to re-familiarize himself with where everything is. He remembered quite a bit. I told him it’s hard for us to remember what is new since he left. We stopped at McDonald’s for Jonathan and Daniel since they don't like Panda Express.  While we waited at the window for our food, Michael said something funny and Nathaniel started laughing that laugh that he does and it made me so happy because I really missed that laugh. Then we went to pick up the Panda Express order. 

When we got home, Andrew put Maggie out back. Nathaniel changed into some jeans and took off his suit coat and went out to greet her. I thought she was going to freak out but she was shockingly calm. It took her a minute to figure out who he was and then she kept kissing him and hugging him.

Then we went inside to eat our dinner. Nathaniel changed from his shirt and tie into a more casual polo shirt, but he still had his name tag on it.  Michael asked him to say the blessing and he said it in Spanish. After dinner, we cleaned up and read Doctrine and Covenants section 135. That was Nathaniel’s suggestion. He talked about how he often used that in his teaching, that Joseph Smith has done more for this world save Jesus Christ than anybody else who has ever lived. Then we had a family prayer. 

The kids really wanted to play Jenga so they did that for a few minutes and then everybody got ready for bed.

Saturday, April 4, 2020

Apparently, Nathaniel woke up at 5am. I guess he still on Bolivian time. He said he studied his scriptures. We all enjoyed the conference sessions this morning. There were so many great things said. President Nelson said that as important as food, water, supplies, and savings are, even more important is our spiritual preparation.I especially loved when Sister Joy Jones spoke about what President Nelson said to a group of children. One little girl asked if it’s hard to be the prophet and he said it was. He said, “The Lord loves effort, because effort brings rewards that can’t come without it.” 

After the session, we sent the kids upstairs so that Nathaniel could have some quiet and privacy downstairs when he talked to President Cardon on FaceTime. Nathaniel went up to change into his shirt and tie. President Cardon called at 11:15am. It's so strange that Elder May was released as a missionary over FaceTime.  I know it was hard for him to say goodbye to his life as a missionary, especially since it ended too soon.  I know he was a good missionary and that he will continue to be one in his everyday life as he serves and teaches others.  We hugged him and I could tell that it was pretty surreal for him. I know he was a good missionary. And he still can be.

Jonathan has to sit wherever Nathaniel is sitting, haha!  He's his new little "companion."  These are a couple of pictures taken while we watched General Conference today.  Daniel wanted to sit by him, too!

We gave Nathaniel his new phone this afternoon.  He hasn't held a Smartphone or video game controller in almost two years!

We love you so much, Nathaniel, and we are thrilled to have you home with us!

Homeschool

Well, we're still doing well during this time of social distancing.  We know that Nathaniel will be coming home once the lockdown and travel ban are lifted, but we just don't know exactly when that will be.  They are trying to get the missionaries out sooner since they just extended the lockdown to April 15.

We've had church at home the last three weeks.  Emily has been good about making programs for us.

The lady who taught us how to decorate cookies this past Christmas was offering cookie kits so that we could decorate at home.  We made the mistake of waiting to decorate the next day, so the icing was a little runny.  They were still tasty, though!

The teachers and administrators at Jonathan's school drove around our neighborhood and the neighborhood where the school is to wave at the children.  Very cool!

We've had a good week.  The teachers are trying to plan for some at-home online learning for the kids to start next week, so we've been overwhelmed with emails.  It seems that everywhere we turn, people are trying to suggest things we can do so that we're not bored, but we have plenty to do!!  Emily has had homework every day for math.  The kids have had Zoom meetings with teachers and classmates as well, which is very cool.  We have a great system going where the kids are screen-free except for education from 9am-3pm, but there are certain times of day where they are allowed to play video games or watch shows.  The kids are doing great and I'm really proud of them!

Spring Break and Social Distancing

Wow, this Spring Break sure turned out differently than we thought it would.  We hadn't made any travel plans because Andrew and Emily were supposed to go on Trek, which is a (partial) re-enactment of the pioneers' trek from Nauvoo to Utah.  We had everything purchased and almost packed when we got the news that they had to cancel because of predicted cold temperatures and rain and thunderstorms for the whole event.  Then, within a day or two after that, more things started being canceled, including all church meetings!  I guess it's just as well that we didn't have travel plans!  Here are a few things we've been up to:

Puzzles!
The kids have been working on this one since Christmas
March 12, 2020

Jonathan did this 300 piece one in two days
March 18, 2020

After we had family church, the kids all got into their comfy clothes.  They happened to match, lol!
March 15, 2020

Some friends of ours went around the neighborhood and decorated the driveways of families who have missionaries serving.  Here is what they did for Nathaniel.
March 20, 2020

Jonathan had fun taking an online drawing class from Mo Willems, author of "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!"
March 21, 2020

Dinner Concert

Andrew and Daniel had a band concert tonight.  There is a dinner served as a fundraiser, and it takes place outside on the school grounds.  The boys did great, and Andrew even had a special part on the last song.

Daniel

Incredibles Theme

Happy, from Despicable Me

Andrew

Final Countdown

Star Wars Saga
Listen for his part with the tenor sax at 3:12 until about 3:30

Great job, boys!

Andrew's Fine Arts trip to Disneyland

I couldn't believe it was already time for our trip to Disneyland!  I had to be there on Friday night at 10pm for the chaperone meeting, and then the kids started coming at 10:30pm.  I was paired up with another chaperone, Mike Sims, who was the dad of another boy in our group.  

Ready to go!

We had another meeting with all the kids at 11pm, took a group picture, and then loaded the buses.  I was nervous about sleeping on the bus, and even though it was a rough night, I did get some sleep. We stopped in Blythe at a gas station with tons of bathrooms. Then we got back on the road again. We arrived at the Hometown Buffet at around 5:30am, I think. We sat on the bus for a while and didn’t go in until 6am. It was a nice breakfast. 

Anderson Sims took this picture.  He couldn't get the boys to look at the camera, lol.

Then we got back in the buses and got to Disneyland pretty quickly. By the time we got off of the bus it was about 7:10am. We got on the shuttle bus and got to the security lines. They were super long. I asked Mike to choose our line at the turnstiles and he made a great choice!  It was a miracle we got through the line that quickly, and I think by the time we got through the turnstiles it was about 8:05am. By then most of the boarding groups were already gone for Rise of the Resistance. Our boarding group was number 140 and I wasn’t sure if we were going to get to ride it. I signed us up for a Matterhorn Fast Pass because the Space Mountain ones were already for quite a bit later in the morning. We stopped at the bathrooms to freshen up and then dropped our stuff off at the lockers. The Space Mountain line was pretty long so we went to Pirates instead. The wait originally said five minutes but by the time we got there it was 15. The boys seemed to enjoy it. On the way to the Matterhorn, I noticed that the line for the Dole whips was really short so we stopped there. 

I watched everybody’s bags while they rode the Matterhorn. They really liked that one. After that we went to the Mad Hatter Tea Party. 

Then we had a photo op at the teacup. 

The boys wanted to go into the Mad Hatter shop and look around a bit. We were originally going to go to Indiana Jones, but the Space Mountain line was shorter and closer so we decided to go to that. We stopped at the bathrooms and by the time we got to the ride the way it was 50 minutes instead of 40. In reality, I think we were in line for closer to an hour and a half.  Everyone loved it, though, and said that the wait was worth it. 

After that we went to the Galaxy Grill for lunch. I didn’t eat anything because I really didn’t want a burger. Then we got on the Disneyland railroad and took that to Main Street. I always enjoy the dioramas on the ride between Tomorrowland and Main Street.  We only had about 10 minutes before they had to meet up for the band workshop so they did some pressed pennies at that little gift shop by the President Lincoln theater. We got them to their meeting place right on time and walked them down through Downtown Disney over to where the movie theater used to be. On the way back, I pointed out to Mike that the Monorail entrance was right there and would take us to Tomorrowland so we decided to do that. Unfortunately, we just barely missed being able to get on the first Monorail that was there so we had to wait for the next one. I told him we could split up so he opted to go find a place in Downtown Disney to sit and relax and I took the Monorail to Tomorrowland and walked to Jolly Holiday Café. I got myself a salad and some soup and some treats and sat down to eat. Then I walked over to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to meet Mike at Oga’s Cantina. My reservation was for 3:10pm but I asked them if we could check in early at 2:30pm. She said it was OK. Mike arrived soon after that. They were able to get us a table to sit down at. They originally said they were going to take us to a bar but I did not want to have to stand and neither did Mike. I was so glad that that worked out because when we left there was a big long line to get in. I had the Jabba Juice and he had the Carbon Freeze. 

Oga's Cantina--so cool!

We walked to the Tomorrowland Monorail station. Once again, we just missed the Monorail so we had to wait for the next one but it came in about five minutes so we were fine. We made it to the meeting place for the kids after their workshop in plenty of time. Andrew didn’t have too much to say about it. He said they talked to trombone players but not baritone players. We gathered all the boys and walked to California Adventure. They really wanted to ride the Incredicoaster so we walked over there, but by the time we got there the ride was broken down. A few of us got some Cookie Num-Nums (my favorite!) and the ride still wasn’t back up so we walked over to use our Fast Pass at Radiator Springs Racers. 

Mike went with all the boys in one car and I went in a different car. I had offered to do that since I’ve been on that ride so many times. They had so much fun! 

After that, we had some time to kill before our next Fast Pass for Guardians of the Galaxy so we split up. Mike took Anderson, Andrew May, and James to the Monsters Inc. ride. Andrew Maung and Nathan wanted to go on Grizzly River run so I took them there and watched their bags. They took ponchos so they wouldn’t get too wet. 

Monsters Inc. had a long wait so they went on Guardians of the Galaxy instead. By the time we got there, they were already on the ride. Andrew Maung didn’t want to ride it so he sat on a bench outside and I went on the ride with Nathan. I don’t really like that ride but I didn’t want Nathan to have to go by himself. I had told the boys we needed to ride that ride before dinner because it does a number on your stomach!  Nathan and James both bought cool jackets at the store that we have to walk through after the ride.  

We went to dinner at Flo’s Diner. Then it was time to go to the Incredicoaster. Everyone loved it! It was so fun!  

After that, we were done with California Adventure so we headed back over to Disneyland. We ran into Mrs. Juarros on the way. She was excited to hear if the boys were having fun, and they definitely were! The boys really wanted to ride Splash Mountain so we stopped at the lockers first and went straight there. I held the boys’ bags by the ride pictures like I usually do. They got off the ride and saw the pictures and got excited about going again. 

I told them that’s OK but we might not have time to do everything we want to do tonight but they didn’t care.  They really wanted to ride it again so they did. They all put their arms up so the picture looks great. 

Our next ride was Indiana Jones. We had a Fast Pass for Big Thunder Mountain in the morning, but the ride was down temporarily so they gave us a new Fast Pass that we could use on that ride or another one today.  I was excited to use it on Indiana Jones because those Fast Passes ran out.  When we got to the ride, we were told we couldn’t use it for Indiana Jones and that there are only certain rides we can use it for.  I was crushed!  I had been counting on using it for that ride all day because a couple of the boys had requested it and I knew they would love it.  I nicely asked if there was any way she could make an exception for us, and she did!  I was so grateful!!  The boys seemed to really like the ride.  Next, we walked over to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Earlier, when we were walking to Splash Mountain, we saw that the sign said they were boarding groups 126 to 130 so we got pretty excited about that. As soon as we got to the entrance to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, we saw the sign that said that the boarding was closed for the night. That was a bummer! We were so disappointed.  I got a picture of the boys with the sign.  We tried!  

Since Millennium Falcon is for six people, I told Mike to take the boys and I will go find out what was going on with Rise of the Resistance. I thought maybe there was a way we could still get on.  They said the ride closes at 9:30pm and so it was already closed down for the night. By then it was after 10pm, I think. I walked back over to the ride to wait for them. When they came off the ride, we had some pictures taken. 

By then, everyone was completely spent. We rested and had some water. A little bit after 11pm, we walked over to Big Thunder Mountain. Mike, Andrew Maung, and James decided to sit that one out. The rest of us had a blast! The guy behind us kept screaming like a goat and it was super annoying. After that, we walked to the lockers to get all of our stuff. We went to the Toy Emporium shop on Main Street. Mike bought a hat for Anderson but otherwise nobody bought anything. We walked over to the meeting place outside of California Adventure and checked in with Mrs. Juarros and then headed for the shuttles to the parking lot. I got on the bus and got everything organized and I slept most of the way home. We got to the school at about 7:45am. We got everybody unloaded and Andrew put his baritone in the band room. It took me a while to get off the bus, but luckily Mike had collected all the boys’ badges and put them in the crate. Andrew helped move the instruments for the kids whose buses still hadn’t arrived yet. Three buses arrived together, and then two more after us. We got home by about 8:20am.

What a wonderful trip!  I am still tired and sore, but I'm so glad I was able to go!!!