I can't believe it's been a week since we found out that indeed, Jordan would be heading to Oaxaca on time. I got a tip last Tuesday night from a good friend Kim, who is also going through this craziness with me, that her son was leaving for Boise to get his visa on Thursday. So Wednesday morning I decided to call the mission travel office myself, and sure enough, Jordan was heading to Boise also, and then on to Mexico on Saturday. The poor boys only had 24 hours to pack up and ship out. A bit stressful, but I think Jordan was truly excited to be going on time.
We were fortunate enough to get 5, yes that's 5, phone calls from him this past week. Three of those calls were only 5 minutes each, but we were able to talk for 45 minutes when he was in Phoenix, and again for 15 minutes when he was in Mexico City. Unfortunately that 15 minutes translated into a $75 phone bill, but it was worth every penny. (Lesson learned: Don't use your debit or credit card to call the US from a foreign country) There were ten missionaries travelling together to Oaxaca. Things went smoothly for the most part, until the got into Mexico City. They were told that their luggage would check all the way to Oaxaca and they didn't need to worry about it until then. When they got off in Mexico City, they were directed the wrong way by some guards and somehow ended up outside of security. Now you would think that 10 boys who have been studying Spanish for the last two months would be able to get themselves out of this predicament. However...Jordan said that everytime they tried to talk to someone to ask directions they were just stared at! They were told several different things; you need your luggage, you don't need your luggage, you need to go through customs etc. Finally they were fortunate enough to have an airport employee, who happened to be a member of the church, come to their aid. He showed them where to go and told them he had taken care of their luggage. Jordan was still a bit skeptical about the luggage when we spoke, but at least they knew where they were going. They had trouble with the phones as well, and all of the Elders weren't able to make one final call home. We were fortunate.
So, that was it. I was pretty sure I wouldn't hear anything from him until his p-day, which I assumed would be next Monday. I had visions of him riding on a bus for 6 hours with chickens in cages on the top and goats in the next seat, and not being able to communicate with anyone. To my surprise, we got a phone call tonight, and it was from an Elder in the mission home. He told me that Jordan had arrived and after spending Sunday and Monday in the mission home, the new Elders were shipped out to their areas today. Jordan DID end up riding a bus for 6 hours (not sure about the chickens and goat) to a small pueblo about 250 miles southeast of Oaxaca City called Union Hidalgo. I'm told the ride took so long because the road is pretty bad. We've been googling it all night, and it looks like a quaint little town. It has a population of about 13,000 and 8,000 of those people speak indigenous languages, so maybe the Spanish he learned in the MTC won't do him any good anyway! His companion is a native named Elder Jimenez. Nothing like being thrown into the work and the culture. Thank goodness for Mother's Day in three weeks. At least I'll be able to hear how he's doing. We feel so blessed that he has arrived safely and pray every day that he will remain safe and be led to those seeking the Gospel. We know he is being blessed for his service.
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