On Monday the 11th class was interrupted
around 3 PM when someone from the travel office at the MTC came to let the Jessie
and Sister Christensen know it was time to leave for the airport. They were the only two from their district of
12 to be going to Sydney and were the first of their group to leave. After a tearful farewell, the two of them
waved goodbye to the others as the elevator doors closed.
Once at the travel office the girls met up with 13
missionaries heading to Sydney, four other sisters and nine elders. After receiving instructions and a ride to the Frontrunner
train station, somehow the group managed to wrestle their luggage on board. They traveled north to Salt Lake City where Jessie
again struggled to get her three bags off the Frontrunner and on to the Trax
train going west to the airport, but everyone finally made it. Jessie was happy to check her two biggest
bags in and to only have her carry-on to drag around for the rest of the trip.
Once she’d passed security and connected to the
airport Wi-Fi, Jessie was able to make a video-call home. Anne and I answered and to our surprise,
sitting right next to Jessie was our good family friend, Laura!
Laura had been in Utah visiting her daughter and
was traveling home to Calgary Monday evening.
While sitting at her gate she noticed a group of missionaries sitting
nearby so she approached one of the elders and asked, “Are you heading to
Calgary.” The missionary responded, “No,
we’re going to Sydney Australia.” Laura
said that, without thinking, her immediate reaction was to loudly cried out, “JESSIE
LOUDER”. A few steps away a startled
Jessie turned around and in disbelief recognized a very familiar face. What a
wonderful surprise and blessing!
It was wonderful to get to talk to Jessie for a
few minutes prior to her boarding the plane for the first leg of her trip. The first flight took her to Los Angles where
she had a short layover. From there
Jessie and her group boarded a Boeing 777 for the trans-pacific flight to
Sydney. The plane took off just 10 PM. The flight lasted about 15 hours passing
Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, and New Zealand, crossing the international date line
along the way, finally landing at Australia’s busiest airport.
We hope more news will follow soon, but we did receive
a text and a photo from President and Sister Runia who had welcomed her. They said,
“She made it and we love her already!!”
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| A happy encounter with Laura Mulholland at the SLC airport. |
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| Over Samoa and Fiji. |
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| Nearing Sydney |
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| After leaving North America on Nov 11, Jessie arrived in Australia on Nov 13th, skipping the 12th somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. |
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| In front of the Sydney Opera House with President and Sister Runia. |
She has already had so many little miracles! We are excited to follow her experiences!
ReplyDeleteHow great is all of this!! We are so happy for her. Scott Runia was one of our favorite BYU basketball players way back when. She could tell him that her Great grandmother was one of his biggest fans! :)
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