MTC changes, Date changes, and Visa problems...

Kolbe enters the MTC today.  It's been a crazy 4 months of an emotional roller coaster but the last week has been the worst and I want to document how crazy it's been to get to where we are today so that one day I can hopefully look back on this and realize there was a purpose in it all.  Back in July Kolbe got his call to the Bolivia Cochabamba Mission, however he wasn't leaving for 4 months which was disappointing to him because he just wanted to leave ASAP but looking back I wouldn't have had it any other way.  Those 4 months gave us some wonderful experiences and some really good time to just enjoy one another.  He continued to work at Magleby's full time, but on his day off, which he usually got once a week, he and I would go shop for stuff for his mission, get massages, go to lunch, and once he was endowed we even attended the temple together.  They were some of the best days ever and I really enjoyed all the extra bonding time I got with him.  As the mission documents were sent to us we were given plenty of time to get them back to headquarters in Salt Lake City to get the acquired Visa that was needed.  And we were feeling great about things.  But in September sometime, we started noticing that Elders that were leaving for their missions around the same time were getting travel itineraries from Salt Lake and we hadn't seen anything so I called the travel department.  I explained to the lady that my son had sent all the Visa paperwork in, and we had an email confirmation from the travel agent she had received everything and it all looked great, but that we had never seen a travel itinerary like other missionaries were getting.  She was actually very rude to me and told me that I needed to stop listening to other mom's about their sons missions because every mission was different and basically told me that I was just a worried first time mom and that I needed to take a deep breath and relax.  But then she told me that she would look him up and see what his initial travel plans were.  She then told me that it was subject to change but that he was scheduled to fly out to the Mexico MTC on Tuesday November 20th at 9:00 in the morning but that his official travel plans would be on his mission portal around 3 weeks before departure and basically not to bother them again until 3 weeks out.  So we did just that. We actually waited until 2 weeks out and still no travel plans so Kolbe called them this time and they don't him to give it one more week and if he still didn't have anything to call again.  Well I decided to email his travel agent to make sure everything was okay and she never responded to my email which was frustrating because I knew I had the right email because we had communicated back in August regarding his Visa.  So the following Wednesday came, he was supposed to leave the next Tuesday, and still nothing so I decided to call the travel department.  The lady that answered looked up his status, told me he would now be going to the Provo MTC due to Visa issues, but that the travel agent would have to give me the details.  She told me that due to it being Thanksgiving he would probably not be going now until the 28th because they wouldn't take missionaries this week.  She put me on hold to talk to my agent but after about 5 minutes got back on and told me that due to a system change in July/August several of the missionaries didn't get their Visa paperwork submitted to Bolivia.  Then she told me that the change was not 100% final and would be made final on Friday and that our stake president would be notified of the change and let us know.  I really was disappointed because I didn't get to talk to the travel agent directly to find out what exactly was wrong with the Visa so I emailed her again just to ask a few questions, and again she never responded.  Now I was dying to have to break this news to Kolbe.  First of all he was over the moon excited to go to the Mexico MTC and second of all, he had already been waiting 4 months to go and although a week isn't long in most circumstances, it was forever to him.  As you can imagine he didn't take the news very well.  He was pretty disappointed but as we spent the day together finishing up some missionary shopping, and eating his sorrows away at Olive Garden, we tried to find all the positives with the change and by that night his spirits were much better.  Well Friday came and we had never heard anything and I was starting to get anxious to know our sons travel plans so around 4:00 I called the Stake Secretary to see if they had heard anything.  I didn't have a number other then a home phone number for our Stake President and later found out it wasn't something he gives out.  Long story short, no one in the Stake, outside of the President, knew anything and no one could find the Stake President.  So I decided to email the travel agent again, but this time CC a lady who had communicated with me originally on the Visa documents.  I though maybe she would get back to me.  Sure enough she did but because it was a Friday night, and she was no longer in her office, she had limited info for me but she could confirm that he was going to the Provo MTC and was pretty sure he was entering on his original date of Nov 20th but that my Stake President was the one informed of the change and needed to let us know!  UGH!!!  Long story short, Kolbe had an interview Sunday morning with the Stake President as a final interview and found out that yes in fact he was going there and on his original date.  They had about 26 missionaries who had Visa issues so they were sending them all to the Provo MTC and making an exception to the fact that it was Thanksgiving week.  Monday morning I woke up to an email from this lady, who is a supervisor in the travel department, asking for my phone number because she needed to talk to me about Kolbe's Visa.  Right after I had dropped the kids off to school my phone rang and when I answered the lady on the other line said "Hey Lynise.  This is Plechette McMillan and I also have Terri Iverson, not the Terri who is your travel agent but Terri her supervisor in a closed door meeting and we have you on speaker phone.  We purposefully didn't bring in Terri, your travel agent, because we have really bad news for you and we want you to feel like you can say whatever you need to say without her around.  Long story short, she has lost all of Kolbe's paperwork to file for his Visa.  His passport, visa documents...everything.  And I guess the reason she has been avoiding your email and phone calls is because she was hoping she would find it all before she talked to you so she wouldn't have to break the bad news to you."  I didn't know what to say.  I was heartbroken, mad, frustrated...but I just said.  "Okay tell me what this means".  She then told me that they needed us to go get new passport pictures and file for a lost passport.  And to pay any fees to expedite it.  She continued to tell me that they were going to do everything on their end to get his Visa through as quickly as they could but that he would probably have to spend his first transfer out of the MTC in a state side mission and hopefully not a second one but it would all depend on how fast everything could get done.  I asked them if he was still going to the MTC tomorrow and they told me yes they didn't want to delay his mission at all.  Then she said "Lynise I'm so sorry.  Visa's get delayed but this NEVER happens.  I honestly don't know how she lost it but more then that I'm sorry that she never told you.  When we approached her this morning about why there has been no communication with you, which we didn't know was happening until you reached out to me this weekend, she told us because she was just hoping it would turn up.  I guess she's known about this for weeks and she should have not only informed you, but us as her supervisors that this happened so we could have been on it weeks ago."  I told her it was very disappointing but that we would just move forward to get it taken care of.  She then said "I can't thank you for being so kind about all of this.  You really are one of a kind.  People usually aren't this nice about things that aren't as bad as this.  And I can promise you we will do everything in our power to get this pushed through.  We have taken the agent off your case and Terri (the other supervisor) and I will be in charge of your missionary from now on."  Talk about a rollercoaster week!  But luckily when I was in the temple Saturday morning, before we even knew Kolbe was leaving for sure on the 20th, I had the strongest feeling that we needed to have him 100% ready by Sunday night.  I'm so glad I did because it allowed us the morning to get all the stuff done with his passport we weren't planning on!  And I'm so glad that Kolbe can still go as planned.  At this point we decided it doesn't matter where he serves, but the most important thing is that he is serving.  And I'm sure one day we will look back on all this and realize that God's hand was in it all along.  I believe in human error, and realize that in this case it was human error, but I also believe that good things will come from this and his path will be guided the way God wants it to be.  So today we did all we could and we've put it in the Lord's hands.  What happens from here on out will be his will.