Mon 3/18/2019 9:10 AM
Good morning everyone! It's kinda weird of me to say this on email since I've always been on at like 4 pm instead. But I just wanted to get on now because it's about the same time I'd be doing emails anyways.
Well, I made it home. It was a long journey, but I made it. I left from Entebbe on Tuesday night (morning back home) at like 11:30 pm and flew to Amsterdam! That flight was about 8 1/2 hours long, but I arrived there at 6 am, showing I went through a couple time zone changes during. Hung out there for a while (about 4 1/2 hours). When I got there, I found that they had some McDonald's there, which I was kinda craving, but it was SO different from McDonald's in America. The one souvenir I got from Amsterdam was a pretty nice watch, a Swatch brand from the Swiss. It's become like my favorite watch ever and I haven't not worn it a single day yet. Then I finally left from Amsterdam at about 10:55 am on a flight that went straight to SLC!! A whole 10 and a half hour flight!! Already, I've been in the air for like 19 hours!! Finally, at like 2:30 pm here, I arrived and almost immediately went to the nearest McDonald's (I honestly have no idea why I was craving that stuff). I got myself some real Micky D's, such as some Sausage, Egg, and Cheese McGriddles. I wish I could say I was finally happy, but obviously not since I wasn't being a missionary like normal. The one thing that really sucked about this next part is the fact that I had to wait at SLC Intl' for 5 1/2 hours!!! The longest layover of my life!! Finally, at 8 pm, I got on a flight to Jackson Hole, WY to finally get back home. I honestly thought it would've been better if my parents just picked me up in Salt Lake City, but it'd be better on gas for them. That flight was only like 45 minutes long, so just was able to get a short nap in 😂. Landed in Jackson at about 9:30 and had to walk from the plane to the actual airport building outside!! It was so cold!! Finally, I got inside, just waiting to see my parents for the first time in almost 2 months. But when I got inside, I didn't see them. I didn't see them anywhere in the airport. I started to freak out a little bit on the inside. After about 30 minutes, I was just waiting around and was able to ask a security person there if I could use his phone to call my parents. One thing that was cool about this person is that he actually served a mission himself back in 2012!! I thought that was pretty neat. So I called my mom and I was asking "Where are you?" and they asked back "Where are you?" I said I'm in Jackson and my mom started to freak out a little bit because apparently, information wasn't delivered properly to my parents, so they had to quickly get up out of bed and leave to come and get me at like 10 pm!! Let me tell you, that was the longest couple of hours of my life. I kept on searching out the window, hoping they'd come around the corner or something right then and there. Finally, around midnight, they finally pulled up to the airport and I was able to give my mom and dad big hugs. I was so happy to finally see them after freaking out for so long. One blessing we were able to have from this, though, is the fact that the roads were completely clear for them on the way to Jackson and they were still clear on the way back. There wasn't any snow coming down or anything. And the weird thing about this is the fact that there was a bad storm across most of Wyoming that really pounded some places, like Star Valley and Laramie and even some of Rock Springs!! And all of those places, except for Laramie, are basically surrounding Jackson and Pinedale, so the storm basically went right around us!! We were so blessed that night.
The next day--Thursday--was somewhat of a chill day, being that I felt like crap because my body clock was just wrecked. I was so tired for so much of the day. One thing that I felt like was lucky for us was the fact that we were able to actually go and see the musical "Singing in the Rain" that the high school was putting on!! It was so good and so funny!! I was so proud of everyone on that stage and I was also kinda reminiscing on all the memories I have had being on that stage in the same places as everyone else. It was just so nice to be able to see that musical that I originally thought I was going to miss.
On Friday, we got to find out the gender of Baylee's baby!! It was such an exciting day!! I honestly thought it was going to be a girl. We had set up a little thing on the wall that looked pretty cute and I thought was pretty clever, too. One thing I thought was funny was the fact that Mom, Dad, and Jacob all wore blue, so Dad was all like, "Oh, it must be a boy." Turns out he was right all along!! It's a boy!! I'm gonna be an uncle!! I'm gonna get my first nephew!!
Saturday wasn't too interesting, Jacob's brother and his wife and child all came for the weekend and were at the reveal on Friday, and they all went skiing on Saturday, except for their little one of course. Mom, Baylee, and I got to babysit their kid for basically the whole day, but we had a lot of fun and he didn't cry like at all the whole day. At one point, we put him down for a nap and I also took a nap as well. Turns out that nap was about 2 hours long!! I woke up and was walking to the kitchen when I heard the little one making noises, obviously hinting to the fact that he woke up. I opened the door and saw him looking over at the bed to find that no one was there, so he just about started to cry. I picked him up just in time so that he wouldn't feel too sad and gave him to Baylee since he knew her better. The rest of the day was good. At about 4 pm, the others were done skiing and it was time for them to get going and go home. Baylee and Jacob stayed, but Jacob's brother had to get going back home.
On Sunday, I was feeling a little weird because I still have my tag on me whenever I go out, so it was like I was home and going to church like normal, but at the same time it felt like I was going into a ward that I didn't even know. And they even asked me to say the opening prayer, which I'm obviously not against. For the Sunday School class, I was a little bit lost because as missionaries, we don't study the Come, Follow Me program for Individuals and Families. In the class, there was a person who I think was a convert, not sure how recent. She would really want to give her opinion on lots of things as we went on and it would kind of get us off topic and I think I'll stop talking about it cause I didn't really learn much because of it. I came home afterwards with Baylee and Jacob since they didn't really want to sing in the choir and mom and dad were both in the choir. We went for a walk just for a little while and were able to talk about things and I really thought that was nice cause I was able to let some more stuff off my shoulders by just talking with them and in person as well. They went home I want to say around 1 pm and we were then able to start studying the next weeks stuff for the Come, Follow Me. That was pretty nice being able to somewhat catch up and to be able to know more for the next class if I haven't been given an assignment by then. Then at about 4:30 pm, we went to support some of our friends that are part of a different church and went to their St. Patrick's Day dinner they had. We only stayed for like 30 minutes, but the food was pretty good. We came home, watched some church approved movies--and Moana. It's Disney--and then went to bed.
And now it's Monday. Not much has happened yet obviously, it's only 9 am. But I'm gonna be studying a lot more today and really focusing on improving myself now so that I can be better when I continue serving the Lord.
Well that's all that I've got to say! I know it's a lot more that usual, but there has been a lot more going on this past week. I'll talk to you all next week!!
This is Elder Buchanan, signing off!
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