Dear Family and Friends,
We didn't get a group email from Elder Erwin this week. His email only contained his flight information. He left the MTC yesterday morning at 4:00am. The missionaries were then bused to the Front Runner station in Provo. When they got to the Salt Lake Central station they all switched to the trax train to the airport and arrived at the Delta terminal at 6:45am. It took him an hour to check his bags and get through security.
Jay and I found out the evening before Rob left for Taiwan that he needed a new camera. We asked a family member that works at the airport to find Rob and give it to him. Since we didn't have Rob's flight info, he didn't think he would be able to find him in the short amount of time he would have while he was working. He suggested that Jay and I go to the airport to try and find him and pass it off to him. He said that there are several parents that do that and it doesn't seem to disrupt things. As a mom, I loved the idea of that. But since we really do try to follow the rules we didn't want to do something that would be inappropriate, but couldn't find anything that said it was forbidden. We really wanted him to have a camera that he could use to document his day of travel and the first few weeks in the field. The mail going to Taiwan is relatively safe so he most likely would have gotten a camera if we sent it but it takes 2-4 weeks to get there. (I'm pretty good at justifying our decision to go to the airport, aren't I?) We got up early and got to the airport by 5:20. Looking back, that seems really early but we didn't want to miss him and we had no idea how long it would take for them to ride Front Runner and Trax. We sat in Terminal 2 for an hour and 20 minutes before the first wave of missionaries arrived. They came and went, no Rob. We were confused. There were at least 100 missionaries and we saw every one of them as they came into the terminal. How could we have missed him? We walked up and down the hall looking for missionaries with Mandarin name tags. There was not one to be found and no new missionaries were entering the airport. We decided to go to Terminal 1 to see if there were any missionaries in there. I was under the misconception that all missionaries flew on Delta and would then leave from Terminal 2. I was wrong. Terminal 1 was full of missionaries too. No wonder our family member knew he wouldn't find him without knowing any of the flight info. We searched the faces and name tags of as many missionaries we could find, with no luck. Finally I found a Mandarin tag. I talked to the young man and asked him, "Hi Elder, where are you going to be serving?" He responded "England". He must have seen confusion on my face because he added, "Mandarin speaking." I thanked him for his service and wished him good luck and went on to searching for more Mandarin name tags. I found a cute sister with another name tag in a language that looks like it would be Mandarin. I asked her the same question, "Hi Sister, Where are you going on your mission?" She quickly responded, "Taiwan" my heart dropped. I knew I was on the right path. She then added "Taichung" before I could ask her "Which mission in Taiwan?" I was thrilled. I thanked her again, wishing her the best of luck. I then started looking around for Rob. There were so many people and missionaries that it was difficult to focus on their faces. As we looked, we realized that all the missionaries that had been in the area were gone. We couldn't understand it. We finally decided to find the Sister I was just talking to and ask her if she knew Elder Erwin. I didn't ask her initially because I knew we were skirting the rules by being there. She was nowhere to be seen. We decided to head back to the Delta Terminal, figuring that they had all headed there. We couldn't think of anywhere else they could have gone.
Once we were back in Terminal 2 we saw a fairly large group of Mandarin missionaries, including the sweet Sister I'd spoken with earlier. I bravely went up to her again and asked her if she knew an Elder Erwin who was also going to Taichung, Taiwan. She hesitated for a moment then said, "Yeah, I think I do know an Elder Erwin." Before I could respond, a young man named Elder Cook chimed in and said that he sat next to an Elder Erwin on the train. I quickly asked him "Has he already come in here to check his bags, or is he behind you?" He thought for a bit, then told told me he thinks that he was still behind him. Apparently, it took several bus loads to get all the missionaries from the Trax station to the airport.
Jay and I decided to go outside and sit on the bench in front of the terminal so we could see all the missionaries before they entered the airport. After about 10 minutes of waiting, another group of Elders came into view. Jay is really good at spotting people and he saw Rob right away. He was at the back of the group but it was easy to see him. He was the only missionary with a violin strapped to his back. We waited for most of the group of Elders to pass before starting to walk toward Rob. He was shocked to see us to say the least. He looked at us like he thought we were his parents but "How could it be?" they would never go to the airport to see him. His shook it off and then smiled a huge smile, then he started shaking his head and saying "You can't be here!". He then looked around like he was checking to see if the "parent police" were present. It was funny. We were so excited to see him, and once the shock wore off, he was so glad to see us too. We handed him the camera and got his old one from him. We took a couple of pictures, then we thought we would leave, but we just couldn't go quite yet. We walked into the terminal with him and pointed out where he should go to scan his passport and get his boarding passes. While he did that, we went to the newspaper shop and bought him a neck pillow for the long plane ride. We met his MTC companion, Elder Watson, and snapped a few pictures. We each gave him a quick hug and walked away. He look good, even with his MTC tight and high haircut. It was wonderful to see him! It's hard to believe, but he has lost weight. He and Elder Watson said the food at the MTC is plentiful but kind of tasteless. He was looking forward to getting to Taiwan and eating there. Even though they knew they would be having fish eyes or brains at their first meal there. Actually, Rob confided in us that he was going to be on the lookout for a Panda Express in the airports so he could get one more taste of "American Chinese" food.
Rob's flight didn't leave SLC until 9:45 so he had a couple hours to wait and make phone calls. The difficult part of that is that there were hundreds of missionaries trying to use the few payphones available at the airport. Rob's MTC companion, Elder Watson's mom sent him a track phone. I thought that was a really strange thing, and being the rule keeper (that I usually am) I couldn't imagine doing that, thinking it seemed wrong. Well I'm here to tell you, Elder Watson's mom is a genius! If you are sending a missionary out, send them with a track phone so they can call you from the airport! Fortunately, two kind people let Rob use their personal cell phones so he could make some calls. I am so grateful to those kind folks! I am so glad I got to speak with him!
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