Londyn LaRose Mission: Week 3!!!! Almost There!

Hellooooooo!!!

Today I get to go in PERSON!!! So this email is going to be on the short side. SO MUCH HAPPENED THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!! So maybe ditch the short email idea haha. (Also ps from future me - you are getting two emails this week because I didn't have time to send one last week).

Thursday 1/27:

Lunch with Grandma and Grandpa

We met up with my grandparents for a goodbye lunch today at Steamed (sooooooo goooodddd!!! If you’re ever in the area pls get the pork soup dumplings they are the BOMB). It was nice to eat and chat with them. The coolest part about today was that we were able to meet our branch and branch President. A branch is essentially the group of people you go to church with. There are 23 (?) people in our branch. It usually consists of people in your district. When I got on the call I saw my companion Sestra Voigt and the Croatian sisters so that was cool to see them and have them in my branch. I also recognized a couple people from past zoom meetings BUT GUESS WHAT. As I was looking through the rest of the people on zoom, my phone started blowing up with text messages. Natalie (my roommate from college who is also in the MTC and going to Ukraine) is sending me a million texts because WE ARE IN THE SAME BRANCH AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! NO WAY!! This means I get to see her at the very least EVERY SINGLE SUNDAY!!! What a miracle!

Sister Chaggares!!! (aka college roommate Natalie)

Friday:

LAST DAY IN CT!!!!
We had plans to fly out to Utah on Saturday but there was rumors of a HUGE nor’easter coming from Friday night - all day Saturday so when we got the email saying “hey you can change your flight to an earlier date” we change it to Friday at 4:44 (what a cool time). Today was bittersweet because I had to say goodbye to my dog :( and essentially the entire house.

Willow :)

I don’t even know if I’ll come back to CT because my parents might move back to Utah while I’m on my mission. So it was a little tough saying goodbye. We were flying out of JFK in New York which is a 1 hr 43 mins - 3hr trip depending on the traffic (gotta love NY traffic ). We parked in long term parking, took the tram/shuttle/train thing to our terminal, which was then under construction so we had to walk forever to get to it. It was kinda sketch tbh. Anyways after walking for years we finally got all checked in, made it through security and got to our gate. We sat down and just chilled for a little bit BUT THEN the person at the desk started announcing that our flight HAD BEEN CANCELLED because of the weather.

Flight cancellation

Now CT has always been known to over exaggerate and freak out over weather but what. in. the. world. Every single flight after that until MONDAY afternoon had been cancelled or had at least 3 layovers. So we grabbed our stuff and went aaaaallllllll the way back to our car and then drove home. The traffic was HORRIBLE because everyone was trying to rush home before the snow came.

The horrible snow storm that cancelled our flight

I barely made it in time for my evening class. It was really nice to see Willow again though haha. P.S there was barely any snow on the ground.

Last stalker moment

Saturday:

Extra party day!! I only had my morning and night class for today. Everything else was cancelled because today was the original travel day. I had nearly a whole day with my parents. It was so fun! We did a puzzle (if you don’t already know I’m a master at puzzles - an expert to say the least).

Puzzle masters

We actually ended up getting a good amount of snow overnight. Probably about 8-12inches. I decided it would be fun to grab our boogie-boards and go sledding down our driveway. I didn’t realize just how slippery or steep our driveway was until barreling down the hill haha. No injuries thankfully.

The actual snow haha

Willow came out and played with us but then when we tried to get her to sled with us, her nail snapped off!!! What?!? It started bleeding everywhere. So bad. My mom and I had to play nurse and take care of it. She’s all good now though.

I am a professional nurse now

Sunday:

Another relaxing day because I had no classes. My parents and I watched a couple church movies about missionary work. They are called The Best Two Years and The RM. Very applicable to what I am about to do haha. I had my very last cuddle with Willow. I actually didn't have an allergic reaction this time so that was a blessing.

Last cuddle (ignore the marvel pjs - I was cold)

Monday:

ACTUAL LAST DAY IN CT!!!!

It was sad to say the actual official goodbye to CT and Willow today. I did cry. But I had strawberries and nutella for comfort.

Two really really cool things happened today. It was a literal miracle. Kamilla is one of my best friends in the entire world. We have been best friends since middle school and suffered through numerous french classes together. Kamilla and I have been trying to plan a time to meet and say goodbye. I have not seen her since I left for college in the summer. She went to her home country, Uzbekistan, for winter break and was supposed to come back January 15th, but she got covid and had to wait another two weeks to come home. Her next date to come back was this past Thursday but her flight was ALSO cancelled because of the weather. All prospects of us being able to meet and say goodbye were thrown out the window. I was sooo sad because that meant I wouldn't be able to see her for a year and a half. BUT she was able to get a flight home on Sunday and her house was on the way to the airport. Everything worked out perfectly. We were able to meet and say hi/goodbye. Such a blessing.

Kamilla!!!!!!

The second cool thing that happened was when we got on the airplane, the seat directly behind us had another sister missionary who was going HOME from her mission. Her name is Sister Morris. She served in the New York, New York mission speaking Mandarin. So cool. She and I talked for at least thirty minutes. We made each other cry haha. It was such an amazing experience to have because she will be me in 18 months. She gave me so much advice and shared all of the stories she had. She wrote me a cute letter to read when I get to the mtc. When we landed we got to see the reunion between her and her family. What a wonderful moment.

Us on the airplane with Sister Morris in the background

Sister Morris

The flight itself was soooooo long. I have flown from Connecticut to Utah numerous times but it has never felt as long as it felt today. When we landed my brother Keldon picked us up. We went straight to our friend's house to get haircuts. I just got a simple trim but it was great to catch up with them and tell them funny stories from college. We stayed over at my Aunt Mishaun's house. So good to see her.

Tuesday:

We went straight from her house over to my uncle's grave. He passed away this past August and this was my family's first time seeing his tombstone. It was a very sad moment. Make sure you listen to the song Bad Bad Leroy Brown in honor of him.

From here we went to Provo so say another hi/bye to another one of my best friends. Her name is Nattacia and she is a beast. We have an inside joke that she is my family's "milk boy" aka errand boy because we would always send her downstairs to get our milk or whatever else we needed. So I just had to get her milk carton socks as a goodbye gift haha.

Nattacia and the milk boy socks

After seeing her and saying goodbye, we dropped Keldon off at class and headed straight to my brother Kyler's house. It was a 2 and a half hour trip. When we arrived my sister in law Shaylee and nephew Paxton were waiting for us. We just hung out the whole rest of the day. Some of you might know the story behind the ice cream picture below, but for those that don't get ready. My all time favorite ice cream in the world is either called Superman or Playdough and I can only find it in Utah. I'm sure other places have it but the East Coast doesn't so I have been severely deprived of my favorite ice cream for years. Severely. Every time I go to Utah I HAVE to get it. If I don't it is SO SAD.