FIRST PHONE CALL - July 27, 2011
We were so excited for this day! Cody (Elder Holmes) asked us if he should call at 5 am or during his layover in
Denver from 7-10 am. Did he really have to ask? LOL So we all woke up early and Brittany came over and we sat on the bed dutifully at 7 am awaiting his call. Time ticked by...7:15 am...gonna be any second now......7:30 am okay, we told Cody to call right away cuz Brittany has school and Makayla has youth conference. Gonna be any second now...7:45 am the suspense is killing us so I decide to write a poem to vent (see the poem under the poems section) 8:00 am...phone is still silent. We even all took turns going to the bathroom sure that if we left the room the phone would ring. Finally at 8:10 am the phone rings. We asked Cody about the delay and this was what happened: they were walking through the airport and a little boy was carrying a light sabre. Cody turned to his fellow missionary and commented that he had forgotten to pack HIS light sabre. A nearby man, chuckled and agreed with Cody. Of course Cody asked the man his name and proceeded teaching this baptist gentleman right there on the spot! SO a missionary! Off to a great start! He sounded so good and happy and very positive and upbeat. He even sounded fine when he mentioned it's 105 degrees in Oklahoma today WITHOUT the humidity factored in. He requested another picture of him with long hair because he sent his through the wash! So not surprised. I was just impressed that he was doing laundry. Can we start sending our sons out at 13? He said the prayer yesterday for the missionary devotional up on the jumbo tron and in front of thousands of missionaries! I asked hiim how it went. He said, "It was great and the guest speaker was President Monson!" to which I replied, "shut up! Tell me you're kidding." to which he said, "okay, I'm kidding. It was Jeffrey R. Holland." And I said, "that is so cool! I know him." Then Cody said, "Mother, you're so gullible. It was Elder Dennis E. Simmons of the Seventy." I told Cody I hated him and he was no longer my son! :p Of course I was joking. It was a wonderful time talking to him. You can really tell he is filled with the Spirit. It was no fun saying goodbye but he is where he should be, doing what he should be doing! He sends his thanks and love to everyone!
Denver from 7-10 am. Did he really have to ask? LOL So we all woke up early and Brittany came over and we sat on the bed dutifully at 7 am awaiting his call. Time ticked by...7:15 am...gonna be any second now......7:30 am okay, we told Cody to call right away cuz Brittany has school and Makayla has youth conference. Gonna be any second now...7:45 am the suspense is killing us so I decide to write a poem to vent (see the poem under the poems section) 8:00 am...phone is still silent. We even all took turns going to the bathroom sure that if we left the room the phone would ring. Finally at 8:10 am the phone rings. We asked Cody about the delay and this was what happened: they were walking through the airport and a little boy was carrying a light sabre. Cody turned to his fellow missionary and commented that he had forgotten to pack HIS light sabre. A nearby man, chuckled and agreed with Cody. Of course Cody asked the man his name and proceeded teaching this baptist gentleman right there on the spot! SO a missionary! Off to a great start! He sounded so good and happy and very positive and upbeat. He even sounded fine when he mentioned it's 105 degrees in Oklahoma today WITHOUT the humidity factored in. He requested another picture of him with long hair because he sent his through the wash! So not surprised. I was just impressed that he was doing laundry. Can we start sending our sons out at 13? He said the prayer yesterday for the missionary devotional up on the jumbo tron and in front of thousands of missionaries! I asked hiim how it went. He said, "It was great and the guest speaker was President Monson!" to which I replied, "shut up! Tell me you're kidding." to which he said, "okay, I'm kidding. It was Jeffrey R. Holland." And I said, "that is so cool! I know him." Then Cody said, "Mother, you're so gullible. It was Elder Dennis E. Simmons of the Seventy." I told Cody I hated him and he was no longer my son! :p Of course I was joking. It was a wonderful time talking to him. You can really tell he is filled with the Spirit. It was no fun saying goodbye but he is where he should be, doing what he should be doing! He sends his thanks and love to everyone!
Second phone call - December 25, 2011
We were all soooo excited to talk to Elder Holmes for Christmas! He called us at 11 a.m. our time. He was very punctual! First we put him on speaker phone to determine which Christmas gifts he got and which he didn't. He had a very good Christmas. He and Elder Rich were having somewhat of a contest and he won. He said Elder Rich had like 48 gifts and he had like 60. lol Thank you to everyone for sending him stuff. He loved everything! He sounded the same with his same witty charm. Brandon was the first lucky one to talk privately with him and we let him have 20 minutes. While Brittany was talking to him mom and Makayla were busy writing a cute song to sing for Elder Rich. It was sung to the tune of You Belong to Me by Taylor Swift since he's such a fan. We all took our seperate turns then at the end we had a nice family prayer with Elder Holmes doing the honors. It was a happy time with few tears. This phone call was full of questions from mom. We found out he 1. loves his companion 2. had a good Christmas 3. Got his GPS and hopes to use it soon 4. does dishes and cooks! (who would have thought) and 5. He is loving his mission
Unexpected call - May 12, 2012
Sister Masters from Arkansas called our family today to say that they just LOVE Elder Holmes. She said how he is teaching her, her husband and three kids and how he is helping them become a forever family. She expressed a desire to have him go through the temple with them to be sealed in a year. It was so nice hearing about their love and care for Elder Holmes. :)
May 13, 2012 - Mothers Day phone call
We got to talk to Elder Holmes for 4 1/2 hours! We each took our own seperate time. Of course mom had her list of questions. Found out he works once a week at a Thrift store doing whatever they need done. He is up to 39 ties now! He has bought himself a smaller acoustic guitar to enjoy while on his mission. He is sharing his cinco-de-mayo pinata at district meeting. He is being well taken care of at the moment by the "Masters" family. They attended church today for the first time and make sure that Elder Holmes is fed! Elder Holmes spoke today in Sacrament for Mothers Day and had himself and the congregation crying. How ironic that he gives a talk about mothers when he isn't seeing his own for two years. lol Other highlights include finding out that he serves for just one ward instead of a stake, he is mostly in a car and he likes to talk to Brandons mustache! :) We look forward to talking again at Christmas.
December 25, 2012 -
We can't believe that this is the last Christmas without our Elder Holmes! We miss him so much! It was fun but crazy this year. We got to talk to him for five hours on the phone and then later in the evening we got to Skype with him. Ain't technology grand. :) We each had our personal conversations with him but Skyping was what was fun! He was wearing his awesome bacon tie we sent him and a funny Santa hat beanie he had received from the Cich family. It was so great to see him. We were over at the Holmes house with all the relatives and the cousins thought it was so cool. They all went in the room to talk to him. We were impressed that he still knew who everybody was. We also got to talk to his companion Elder Cummings who told us that Cody was his favorite companion so far. The highlight of the phone calling was the be a u ti ful song sung by his favorite sister and mother made up on the spot. It was sung to a song that's dear to his heart sung by Selena Gomez called Love you like a love song.
It's been said and done
We know your mission's been really fun
And we guess right now you're the lucky one
So your mission will go on and on, with the best of em
You are beautiful, like a dream come alive, incredible
A righteous, miracle, lyrical
You're saving lives again
And we want you to know Cody
We, we love you like a love song Cody
We, we love you like a love song Cody
We, we love you like a love song Cody
And we keeping hitting repeat peat peat peat peat
Constantly, boy you teach non members like a symphony
There's no way to describe what you've come to be
You've just come to be what you've come to be
And they feel like they've been rescued
They've been set free
They've been hypnotized, by their destiny
You are magical, lyrical, beautiful
You are....and we want you to know Cody
(repeat chorus)
No one compares
You stand alone, to every CD we own
Music to our hearts, that's what you are
A song that goes on and on
It's been said and done
We know your mission's been really fun
And we guess right now you're the lucky one
So your mission will go on and on, with the best of em
You are beautiful, like a dream come alive, incredible
A righteous, miracle, lyrical
You're saving lives again
And we want you to know Cody
We, we love you like a love song Cody
We, we love you like a love song Cody
We, we love you like a love song Cody
And we keeping hitting repeat peat peat peat peat
Constantly, boy you teach non members like a symphony
There's no way to describe what you've come to be
You've just come to be what you've come to be
And they feel like they've been rescued
They've been set free
They've been hypnotized, by their destiny
You are magical, lyrical, beautiful
You are....and we want you to know Cody
(repeat chorus)
No one compares
You stand alone, to every CD we own
Music to our hearts, that's what you are
A song that goes on and on