Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Returning Missionaries

We finally got some rain on Monday, but with the rain came lighting, its beautiful to watch but....not so fun when you work for an airline. Monday is usually my day off but they asked me work ramp transfer. What is that you might ask? I watch the international departures and see if there are any passengers that might have a very short connection and would miss their flight. On Monday with it being a weather day makes it hard to know which flights are delayed and which ones are going out on time. Doing ramp transfer is different, I usually have very nice and happy people because they will be making their flights. In the afternoon I went to get a salad and saw this missionary walk by me..I thought I wonder if he knows where he should be, people miss their flights all the time because they sit at the wrong gate. I went to taco bell and on my way back to office I saw him again. I stopped and asked if he was ok and he said yes and then he said he was waiting for his flight much later and I checked on it for him and he told me his brother who was also returning home from his mission they were suppose to be on the same flight. I checked and his brother would miss their flight. I had him come to the counter so I could help him, He had served his mission in Peru and his brother in Merida Mexico. His brother flew from Merida to Mexico City and the flight from Mexico City to DFW was delayed. As we talked and I was getting his brothers flights taken care of I gave him my cell phone to call his dad to let him know about his brothers flight information, then I found out that this was to be a surprise, his mother knew that his brother was coming home but he was not suppose to come home til Friday. Nasty weather ruined their plans. The flight to Ontario was oversold and it frustrated me to think they all had put this much effort to come home together and come off the plane together and surprise their mom. I desired the flight and called our yeild management department and told the lady who I was at DFW and I needed to have this segment overbooked. I told her I realize the flight is full but that I had his brother confirmed on the flight, and proceeded to tell her that they had been gone for 2 years and had not seen their parents and this was to be a surprise because the one I was trying to get confirmed on this flight was not suppose to be home til Friday. We were so blessed, the lady on the other end was either a member of the church or knew about missionaries. I know the Lord had a hand in this young missionaries life, he said he had been praying for help and didn't knw what to do. I am thankful that I could be a part of the reunion for he and his brother. I am thankful for the gospel and the joy that missionaries give to people as they accept the gospel.

4 comments:

Rach said...

That was a beautiful post, I got goosebumps reading it! I'm so glad you could help this missionary surprise his family. I would have loved to be at the airport when they walked off the plane together!

Steph said...

That is such an awesome story! I was amazed at the number of missionaries we saw while we were there on Friday. There were three elders that were on our flight and after saying goodbye to you, we had a 3 hour delay(yes, we had to board 3 times and change planes and gates...) It was awesome to see the whole flight just bending over backwards trying to help them and even more cool to get to chat with their families who were so excited to see them, even three hours later than they thought :) I bet you see a lot of cool things like that!!

marcia@joyismygoal said...

That was so cool Robin You are such a wonderful servant of the Lord

Natalie said...

That was an awesome story. You are awesome. I love how you always help everyone you can. I know the Lord is so pleased with you and I am so grateful to be your forever friend.:)