Day Two in the MTC - Our first picture!

Wednesday, June 14th

Today had a good start to it.  We had heard from our son and we knew that he was doing well.  Although we are still tired from the energy it takes to get a child off on a mission and the major emotional toll it takes on you, we were trying to get back to the grind.  

I was doing some cleaning and needed another hanger.  I decided to go into the boy’s bedroom (Alexander and Joshua shared a room), and seeing Alexander's ties in the closet and seeing all of his belongings and being able to catch his scent…my eyes filled with tears immediately.  I grabbed the hanger and I left the room.  As I sat at my desk, I picked up the picture of Alexander that I keep there and I held it and I cried.  I was missing my son.  

I knew that I couldn’t allow myself to get back to a place of such pain where I didn’t feel like I could do anything, so I decided that I would stay busy.   I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned.  I did batches of laundry, cleaned up my daughter’s room, went through every single stack of paper in the house and organized them all, swept the living room, hallways, bathroom and kitchen, washed dishes, and cleaned the counter tops in the kitchen.  In between that, I played with my daughter, made her some popcorn and sat and watched part of a movie with her.  All in an effort to keep my mind focused on anything but missing my son.

Later in the afternoon, after picking up my son Joshua from a friend’s house and just setting foot back into the house, my phone alerted me to a Facebook Messenger notification.  It said that I had 3 pictures coming through from one of my friends.  As soon as I realized what it was, I ran to my room, logged onto the computer and almost broke my cheeks from smiling so much :oD

You see, many years ago (1995), after serving my mission, I worked in the MTC in Provo, Utah.  There I taught new missionaries before they went out into the field (much like my son is doing in the Madrid MTC).  There, I was a team teacher with 2 other people.  One of those people was Alberto Fernandez.  He is a native Spaniard.  We are good friends and have been for the past 22 years.  Once my son received his call to Spain, Alberto was alerted to the fact that Alexander would be arriving there in June.  He assured me that he would keep his eye out for him.  

Alberto is an engineer for the Madrid temple and the MTC, the missionary housing unit and distribution center.  So, he is on-site at the MTC lot.  This morning (June 14th), after his meeting with the MTC President, Alberto was alerted to my son’s arrival and he went and met with him in his class.  

Here is his report:

“I went this morning to see him at his class.  The MTC President told me!!!  Is there an elder you know?  Yes, Elder Maybury!  It was great to see him.  He looks happy and comfortable.  

Among the many things that we do is prepare name tags for the missionaries.

I told his classmates that I taught Spanish at the Provo MTC with Elder Maybury’s mom and that I also knew his dad.  It was a great feeling.  He will be a wonderful and great missionary.  

I gave him a hug and he was pretty happy.  We talked mainly in English.  They allow them to do it just the first day and after that they had to do it in Spanish.  He seems pretty mature.

Honestly, it was great to see your son and give him a welcome hug.  The Church is a small world for sure.” 

(This is actually Alberto wearing the tag after his people made it)

After seeing these pictures, both James and I knew and could feel in our hearts that he is exactly where he belongs.  He is a missionary.  He is happy.  While we still miss him, we cannot deny the fact that he is being lifted up to fulfill this calling that he has been given.  He is determined to serve with honor and obedience and we know that he will do just that.  

We decided that, as a family, we would all write Elder Maybury a letter.  Each person got one piece of paper and an envelope.  Each person took some private time to write (or in the case of a 6 year old, write and draw) a letter to Alexander.  This helped us feel connected to him, as well.  Isabella was eager to get them some postage and put them in the mailbox.

Day three was awesome.