Hugs from the Lord

Today started out like any other day. I got up, went downstairs for my first stab at waking Carlos up. He grunted and said he would get up, so I went back upstairs. I couldn't hear any movement, so I went back down and he was asleep again. I told him to get up and banged on his wall (don't worry... he told me that if he doesn't wake up I have his permission to hit him with a hammer. I would never do that...yet). He was walking into his bathroom when I went back upstairs this time. Again, no audible movement, so I went back down and he was in bed asleep again. Grrr! So I woke him up again and threatened him with gross American food for breakfast (it always works). He finally got up and got ready. By now, it had been 40 minutes since the process began. Fewsh! So I finally get him to BYU, and head to work.

I get to work and open my email. To my amazement, this is the email in my Inbox...

Lisa,

My son Reid wrote today and one of his requests was to write you and tell you how much he and all the missionaries love your son. He said he's an assistant to the president and all the missionaries think he's the greatest. So, the message is delivered, you probably already know he's the greatest!

--
Janna

I was in complete shock. I started to cry, and didn't quite know what to do. Every mom knows that this is the moment you wait for. We all love our children and think they are wonderful, but to have someone say it out of the blue takes your breath away. So I responded, saying thank you, and soon received a response...

He must be pretty amazing, to my son at least, because he's only named two other elders the entire time he's been out, with the exception of his companions. So from Reid it is the highest compliment, he his a man of few words.

Janna

Wow. What a great day! It makes everything worthwhile. Those of you that know me, know that my life has not gone exactly according to textbook. You begin to wonder if your stupid choices have effected your children beyond repair. My home teacher, Brother Tyler, always talks about getting "hugs from the Lord". He said that whenever something wonderful happens unexpectedly, it's a hug from the Lord. Today I experienced a bear hug.


I'm not one to boast, or even talk about myself, but I couldn't hold this inside. I know that my close friends and my sister and nieces will be OK with me boasting this time. I'm so proud of Drew. He is absolutely the most wonderful thing in my life. I am so honored to be his mom. His accomplishments are his own; I do not take credit for who he is. But dang, I'm so glad that I get to be a part of his life.

Jaime

Last week was especially great for Drew. As you know, he has been serving in the mission office since Mother's Day, which means he doesn't have the opportunity to teach or do baptisms. There is a man named Jaime, who Drew and his companion, Elder Cano taught while they were there. Since that time, Drew and Elder Cano have been sent to different areas. A couple of weeks ago Jaime committed to baptism, and requested that Drew and Elder Cano come back to his town to baptize him. Eight days before Elder Cano left to go home, he and Drew were able to travel to Micaela Batista and baptize Jaime. It was a wonderful experience for Drew. Here is an excerpt from his letter regarding Jaime's baptism day:

Jaime is like 45 and has a family. But yeah in the baptism he got baptised and his niece Mitzi too(Mitzi's dad was my second convert). Its cool to see how things all work out. There was a cool thing that Elder Oyola said he said "Elders, your mission starts, but it never ends. You start your mission but will never ever see the ending results of it." And I can see why now. Mitzis dad went inactive for a while and so I got sad about it. But then I saw him in the baptism and he was getting his daughter baptised and is active again. Its just a big time chain reaction. Thats way cool.

Everything is going well for Drew. He is so happy!

I haven't been able to pin Carlos down yet so I can get a picture of him for all of you to see. He is a funny kid. He doesn't understand my humor at all. He just looks at me like "whatever, lady." He is attending BYU and playing a lot of "Counter Strike". I am never home, so the poor kid just entertains himself by drinking more soda than anyone on the planet, and by eating his newfound favorite snack, red licorice.

I have been working backstage at Pioneer Theater Company's My Fair Lady. It is a beautiful show, and the cast members are so gracious and professional. I really love sharing the experience with them. You can see a short video of some scenes from the show if you click on my link to Pioneer Theater which is to the right under "My Favorite Things".

"Don't Worry, Mom"

About six weeks ago Drew wrote in his 3-sentence email that his President wanted to know if his son could stay with me while he goes to BYU. I emailed back saying that would be no problem at all.

Over the next few weeks, I continued to ask Drew in my weekly email for details about his President's son. I figured it would be easier if I knew details about him; does he speak English?, does he need a car?, how long will he stay?, when is he coming?, etc. These are questions I asked Drew a few times, with no response. He is horrible about answering my questions. It stands to reason, though, because those 3-sentence emails packed with "cool" and "awesome" leave little room for minor details.

So I looked at the BYU schedule, and school begins on September 1st. Wow! So, maybe the boy isn't going to attend this semester. How would I know? I kept asking questions, but nay a response. Grrr... What a goof.

Well, in his email this week he said that the boy is coming on the 28th. What?! The 28th? That is one week away. What time?, What airline?... So I was talking it over with my assistant at work, and he recommended I call the mission office and ask the speak to the President or his wife. Hmm... interesting thought... So I did!

When an Elder answered, I asked if there was anyone there that spoke English. I was hoping SO MUCH that Drew would be the one to pick up the phone. No such luck. I explained to the sweet Elder that got on the phone what my concerns were, and he understood. He said he would have the President call me. Now, according to Drew the President doesn't speak English, so how is that going to work? The Elder also mentioned that the President was in a missionary interview at that time, and that he would ask him to call. I was so excited, because I knew that Drew was there with the President doing the interviews.

So in about three minutes, I get an email from Drew saying "Mom, don't worry. He speaks perfect English. He's leaving on the 28th and he will be going to our ward." And that's it. No more information. So... I guess I will just cross my fingers and hope that whenever the young man arrives at my house I will be here. Because, after all, I shouldn't worry.

I love my son. He cracks me up. What a goof!

Here are some fun videos that prove our missionaries are still just little boys on a big boy errand...

I Have to Start Somewhere

So I've gotten a late start on this project because I'm intimidated by the whole blog thing. But I will catch you up on a few of my favorite stories from Drew so far.

Let me preface this by saying, for those of you that know Drew, he's very... what's the word?... cool. His vocabulary consists mainly of the words "dude", "awesome", "ha" and "cool". He sent me an email recently that was the usual three sentences long, and in those precious three sentences, the word "cool" appeared more than 10 times.

That said... Drew and a few other Elders were walking down the street in Peru. A monkey swung down from a tree limb and smacked him in the face. He tells me the story, and then reiterates (and I can hear him saying this) "Dude Mom. A monkey swung from a tree and smacked me in the face! Isn't that awesome?"

In his email last Saturday he told me a story about his adventures with the mission van. He's living in the mission office right now, serving as the Assistant to the President, and so he uses the mission van to run errands, deliver missionaries, etc. Apparently, though, the van is a little ghetto. Whenever they have to go somewhere, the missionaries have to push it to get it started, and then pop the clutch. He was at the airport the other day retrieving the newest missionaries and the four of them had to push-start the van, all of them in their suits of course. The visual of that makes me giggle. And needless to say, he thinks it's cool.

Well that's enough for now. I'm looking forward to sharing his happiness with all of you.