April 2021

Japanese. Sunday, April 11, 2021 Each day and each week of our lives here are a miracle. I am constantly in awe at the Lord’s blessings to our family. Last week in general conference, we heard that, “The Lord is in the details of the details of the details of our lives.” That has proved so true again in just the past 7 days. At 10:30pm last Sunday, after eating dinner with the Payo family, Mark and I looked at each other and knew we had much to do, but no more time and we needed sleep. Our biggest concern was Emma’s flights home, which had changed constantly since the Church booked them a few weeks ago. We decided we didn’t have any energy to discuss it, though, so we both knelt by the bed and fervently prayed for answers. She would be leaving Budapest in just 24 hours. We poured out our souls and then crawled into bed, exhausted. However, a few minutes later we both woke up and sat up. We had ideas of things we could do to try to facilitate her flight home. I discovered a past email I had overlooked, that said there was a possibility for her to take the Patriot Express from Seattle to Okinawa on April 7th. At first, that seemed impossible, but when we looked closer, we realized she would be returning from Budapest on the 6th. Maybe it wasn’t too late! But everything in Utah was closed at the military base for another 36 hours. Mark realized the Seattle military terminal would open in a few minutes, though, so we called and emailed. They clarified that she didn’t need a military ID to fly! Another answer! We asked if they could put her on the 7th flight, since Utah was closed. In the meantime, I called Emma in Hungary. They were watching conference, but an hour later she called back and put me in touch with Sister Mortensen, the mission secretary. Sister Mortensen was hesitant to change Emma’s plans (she was originally scheduled to fly to Tokyo and do a 2 week quarantine, yuck!) Sister Mortensen said the 24 hour hotline in Salt Lake might be open, so she tried. Meanwhile, the Seattle office emailed back that they had officially put Emma on the April 7th flight!!! It was a total miracle!!!! We still didn’t have flights from SLC to Seattle, but that was OK. Salt Lake couldn’t rebook emma on a flight to Seattle without going through Amsterdam, which was a huge risk, but then Emma asked about flying direct to Salt Lake. It worked!!! At 2:30am, we called all of our Utah kids and shared the news: Emma would be in Utah on Tuesday for a few hours!!!! They were ecstatic. They cried. It was a tender mercy for them to know they would see their sister in just a day. They had thought it would take a month to see her!!! At 3am Mark and I went to bed, exhausted, before waking up to take Naomi to seminary. However, our hearts were FULL! The Lord had answered our prayers. ALL our prayers. Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday were a flurry of preparations for Emma to come home, 2 weeks earlier than we thought, but just a day later than we had hoped and prayed for. Miraculously, she had to leave Budapest half a day earlier, but she was already packed and had said her goodbyes to President and Sister Rucker. When she went to board the flight, her Covid test had not come back, but…she was inspired to try to get a rapid test, which she did. She continued to take one step forward and smiled at the check in attendant. One miracle led to another, and soon she was at the gate waiting to leave Hungary. Her heart was full and we were both in tears!!! More miracles! She flew safely to Paris and then to Atlanta and then to Utah, where she had a midnight reunion with Ben and Dani, Sam and Emily, and Sariah. They all hugged for joy. Her first time meeting her new sister-in-laws!!! They all drove to Aunt Linda’s house and crashed in the basement. On Tuesday at 7am, Sam took Emma to get another Covid test. Then, they went to our Kaysville home to pick up a few items. At 10am, all four grandparents arrived at Linda’s for a yummy brunch. What a special time to visit and catch up! Kessler Baker also came to say hello. At 1pm they drove Emma to Tooele, Utah to get her military ID card. Another huge miracle! Then they crashed at Aunt Linda’s for a few more hours, then went to get dinner together, and then drove Emma back to the Salt Lake airport at 9pm to catche her flight to Seattle. I am so grateful for all of our kids. They dropped everything to help Emma get settled and ready for her flights to Japan. They stayed up 24 hours. They gave up class and work and homework time to help each other. Then they put her back on the plane. Emma flew to Seattle and waited for hours in the terminal. Then flew to Anchorage, Tokyo, Iwakuni, and finally… Okinawa! We went to the Kadena Air Base terminal to pick her up at 8:30pm, but found out she wasn’t arriving until 11:30pm! So we all went to the high council room at the church and slept for a few hours. Then we went back to the terminal and picked her up! What a joyous reunion! We then went to the church again and Mark released her in his office. The clock on the wall said 12:55am!!! It was such a tender mercy for Mark to release her in person. We were wondering if and when it would ever happen, but it did!!! At 1:30am we sang Happy Birthday to Nico!!! And then we drove Emma home and crashed into bed!!!