Its almost the middle of January! December was a VERY busy month for our family...not just because of the Holidays, but also because we were getting ready for Logan to leave on his mission! Logan finally received his mission call the day before Thanksgiving! We were expecting it that day, because now you can track it all closely on the web! So, we knew it would be in the mail that day! But, it was NOT! When Rilee came in with the mail and said it wasn't there, we all sat there stunned, thinking she was kidding or there was a BIG mistake! Turns out there was a big mistake! It truly wasn't there! Logan asked me what we could do, so we jumped in the car and went over to our 'friendly' (that is a bit derogatory...) neighborhood post office and proceeded to stand in the infamous long line. After our 20 minute wait, I explained to the nice gentleman that we were expecting a very important letter that we knew was supposed to have been delivered, but had not come and could he possibly go check around in the back to see if it had gotten misplaced. He looked at me like I was a crazy Draper mom that knew nothing about what I was talking about, but he decided to appease me and go in the back. A few minutes later, he returned and told me there was nothing for me in the back! So, knowing that the next day was Thanksgiving and the mail would not be delivered again until Friday I was not going to give up so easily!
I told Logan and the girls that we would drive around the neighborhoods and look for our mail truck and ask our carrier if she could check in the truck to see if the letter had fallen out on the floor or got put in the wrong box or something! We all piled back into the car and started scouring the surrounding neighborhoods for a mail truck! About 5-7 minutes later we spotted one! I began stocking it, following closely behind, waiting for it to stop long enough to be able to jump out and go talk to them. Finally there were a few mailboxes in a row, so I got my chance! As I ran up to the side of the truck I could see the mail carrier looking cautiously at me through the side mirror. I also noticed that it wasn't our usual mail carrier and that he was wearing a BYU cap, which gave me a little relief, because at least he would know a little bit about the importance of the letter I was searching for! He was very nice, but explained to me that I was not in his route and I was looking for another mail truck. He did tell me that he would mention my dilemma to my mail carrier if he saw her back at the post office later that day. We drove off still searching for the right mail truck. Low and behold we found it a few minutes later! I proceeded to stock this truck until I had enough time to jump out again and approach the mail carrier. This time the carrier was female, but she was subbing for our regular mail carrier! She told me she had not come across any stray letters, but would keep her eyes open. We were all starting to feel like this might not happen. We drove home. I thought what else could I possibly do? I felt like this was important enough that I couldn't stop until I had exhausted every avenue!
I got out the phone book and started calling post offices downtown, searching for the lost letter! I got the same answer...it was no where to be found. I hung up and told Logan that I didn't know what else I could do. Depression had set in. The whole house was in a funk. After about an hour of that, I got up and told the kids we were going out to lunch and gonna get our minds off it and have some fun! By this time it was 2 o'clock and they were all starving and happily agreed. We went to Applebee's and ate and begun to joke around and forget about the predicament that we were in. Logan had texted everyone he had previously told to come over to the house for the opening of his call, and told them it had not come so not to come over. We just assumed that something had happened possibly due to the holiday and that maybe it would come on Friday. Then, he received a text from a friend in our stake who was expecting his call that day also. He told Logan that his call had come...oh dear! That was it! I knew Logan's call was sitting SOMEWHERE most likely misplaced and I was not gonna give up! I told the kids we were going back to the post office, it was 4:30 and maybe the mail carriers had finished their routes and were back at the office and maybe somebody had found his call and we could get it there instead of having to wait until Friday for it to be redelivered. We drove back to the post office and got in the even bigger waiting line and waited! Thirty minutes later we were next in line and I was eyeing the only two employees there...the same guy who I had already talked to earlier that morning who I felt like had not really cared much about our predicament or the other lady...a fresh pair of ears that I could plead my case to. I was praying for the lady! It could be either! Both employees were almost through helping the guests who had been in front of me! The guy! The lady! Ugh! Which one??? Yeah!!! The lady called out 'Next guest please...' I hopefully explained to her our situation and she agreed to go in the back and take a look around. We waited about 5-7 minutes and finally she came out holding a large white envelope!!! No way!!! Was it Logan's call??? She came over and told me she didn't know how this envelope had gotten where it had or why it was just sitting in the back in a random spot but she had found it just lying there. She handed me the big white envelope addressed to Elder Logan James Cassell!!!! We had found it! Wow! What a day! We quickly called and texted everyone and told them to come over! So they did and Logan opened his call and he was called to the Lubbock, Texas Mission, Spanish speaking and was to report to the MTC on January 5, 2011, which was 7 weeks away! It was all very exciting and also a good lesson on perseverance for us!
We had a wonderful month and a half with Logan. The girls had a long Christmas break and Jim took a lot of time off work and we spent valuable time together as a family. We played tons and tons of games, went to movies, played basketball, went to a couple Jazz games, went skiing and just had fun being together! It is kind of surreal that Logan has grown up and is on a mission! It is going to be a big adjustment not having him home, things have been very quiet around here! But, I know that he is where he is supposed to be and is doing something that he has been looking forward to doing for as long as I can remember!
Dropping him off at the MTC was HARD! We went early and parked across the street from the MTC and took pictures and got to share a very emotional and spiritual moment together in family prayer in the car before it was his time to go. One thing that made the day easier for me was when we drove into the MTC, there were hundreds of missionaries standing out on the curb lining the whole campus! Literally hundreds of missionaries! They were all smiling and waving and the Spirit was emanating from each one of them. They were all so happy and had an Ora about them that delivered a sense of peace to my heart. I knew that Logan was going to be one of those happy, smiling missionaries and that our Heavenly Father's spirit would be with him! I was excited for him to be a part of that and to be able to share that with others out in the mission field. I have a small hole in my heart that was him and I miss him, but I am so happy for him, that he is getting to be a part of something so special! What a great blessing to be able to be a missionary! I am very proud of him and the choices he has made in his life so far! We have heard from him a couple of times so far and he is doing awesome! I have started a blog for him, where I am posting pictures and his letters and emails. Check it out at...
http://www.elderlogancassell.blogspot.com/ Hopefully for us, the 2 years will go by quickly! But I am so grateful for this wonderful opportunity!
