So my short time in Bedford came to a close. On Wednesday 11th of December I packed up all my stuff and moved to Hyde Park, to be with the sisters in the visitors centre for a few days, before my flight to the MTC.
It was weird to have so much time on our hands. It seemed more like a waiting game. There didn't seem to be much to do until someone came into the centre. It made me really appreciate not being called to a visitors centre. All that time sitting around. I think I would have gone a little crazy by the end, but I'm sure those who have served there truly love it.
The next few days went rather quickly, soon I was on my way to the airport to catch my flight. Mixed feelings! I was honestly so sad to leave, I'd come to love serving in the London North mission, would not have minded serving the rest of my mission there at all, but was excited to start the next part of the journey.
13 hour flight to Dallas, Texas. Pretty uneventful. Dallas Airport...hectic! Possibly one of the most stressful couple of hours in my life. Never again. My time to reach my connection flight was limited, we had already landed later then scheduled and I needed to collect my baggage and re-check them in, go through security and finally, get to my gate on time. Challenge accepted.
Got to baggage reclaim, only to find the conveyor belt was broken with only half the luggage out, none being mine! So I tried to stay calm. 'They'll fix it soon, it won't take long!' 30 minutes later my patience was wearing thin. Panic started to creep in. What if I miss the flight?! I don't have a phone, do I even have numbers to call anyone if I do?! Thankfully it started up soon after that, and I was able to collect my bags and head to...oh, erm...Which way do I go? There's no airport staff around to ask...Follow the crowd then!
So with baggage finally checked in I headed to security, with about 15 minutes to get to my gate. Stressed was an understatement. Bags and coat went through. Coat came back to me. They took my bag to search! I'd realized I'd left a mini bottle of water in the side pocket from the other flight, and quickly told them so hoping it would make it a little quicker. Out came the bottle of water and the rest of the contents of my bag piece by piece at what seemed a snail pace. I was sure I was going to miss the flight by this stage! Ran to the mono-rail to get to the other terminal, then on to the gate, only to find they had changed the gate number, ran to the next gate with another guy who happened to be on the same flight. We made it, out of breath, hot and disgusting, to discover the flight had been delayed by 2 hours! I was not amused in the slightest. At least we made it on time.
So I sat down next to the couple who I met at the wrong gate. We got talking, and he mentioned he was coming home from Bournemouth as he had been travelling with his bank...he'd also been to Australia recently for work. By this time I was thinking 'That must be a really good bank, to be able to travel all around the world. Didn't realize bankers did that too much' Some how later on in the conversation it came up that a couple of my friends had been to see Imagine Dragons the night before. 'I'm in that band' he exclaimed. Yep. I'd only gone and sat next to Wayne Sermon from one of my favourite bands! He found it rather funny how I'd misheard him. He let me get a photo with him and signed my missionary planner. It made my stressful travel adventure worthwhile! Seriously, who can say they spent 3 hours with Wayne Sermon and his wife?!
Got to baggage reclaim, only to find the conveyor belt was broken with only half the luggage out, none being mine! So I tried to stay calm. 'They'll fix it soon, it won't take long!' 30 minutes later my patience was wearing thin. Panic started to creep in. What if I miss the flight?! I don't have a phone, do I even have numbers to call anyone if I do?! Thankfully it started up soon after that, and I was able to collect my bags and head to...oh, erm...Which way do I go? There's no airport staff around to ask...Follow the crowd then!
So with baggage finally checked in I headed to security, with about 15 minutes to get to my gate. Stressed was an understatement. Bags and coat went through. Coat came back to me. They took my bag to search! I'd realized I'd left a mini bottle of water in the side pocket from the other flight, and quickly told them so hoping it would make it a little quicker. Out came the bottle of water and the rest of the contents of my bag piece by piece at what seemed a snail pace. I was sure I was going to miss the flight by this stage! Ran to the mono-rail to get to the other terminal, then on to the gate, only to find they had changed the gate number, ran to the next gate with another guy who happened to be on the same flight. We made it, out of breath, hot and disgusting, to discover the flight had been delayed by 2 hours! I was not amused in the slightest. At least we made it on time.
So I sat down next to the couple who I met at the wrong gate. We got talking, and he mentioned he was coming home from Bournemouth as he had been travelling with his bank...he'd also been to Australia recently for work. By this time I was thinking 'That must be a really good bank, to be able to travel all around the world. Didn't realize bankers did that too much' Some how later on in the conversation it came up that a couple of my friends had been to see Imagine Dragons the night before. 'I'm in that band' he exclaimed. Yep. I'd only gone and sat next to Wayne Sermon from one of my favourite bands! He found it rather funny how I'd misheard him. He let me get a photo with him and signed my missionary planner. It made my stressful travel adventure worthwhile! Seriously, who can say they spent 3 hours with Wayne Sermon and his wife?!
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| Wayne Sermon and I. He signed that planner ;) |
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