Sonoma County/ Charles Schulz Airport - Missionary Arrivals!

One of the perks of our Santa Rosa Mission is the Sonoma County/Charles M. Schulz Airport (STS). Being accustomed to the bustling O’Hare Airport in Chicago, the STS airport feels like a breath of fresh air. And since we go there every six weeks to pick up new missionaries, we are especially grateful for the blessing of this little airport.

*Sonoma County/Charles M. Schulz Airport in Santa Rosa*

To begin with, you can actually park right out front of the airport and for free! Coming from Chicago, this still feels slightly illegal. A short walk and just a few minutes later, we are inside at the spot where all passengers come out of the secure area. A quick turn, and the two little baggage claims are right there behind you. The airport is only a 15-minute drive from the mission home. We are so grateful not to have to fight San Francisco traffic trying to get into the SFO airport!

*Greeting missionaries at the airport !*

This airport is named after the famous cartoonist and creator of Peanuts, featuring Charlie Brown and Snoopy. Charles Schulz was a resident of Santa Rosa and passed away here in 2000. We also have a Charles Schulz Museum here in Santa Rosa. In the airport, you are greeted by Snoopy himself, and comic strips line the walls. It can be entertaining to read while waiting for planes to land. Here is one of our favorite comic strips.

Karen, one of the security personnel, knows us well from our frequent visits. She always comes by to say hello and keeps us updated on the arrival time of our flights. I remember one flight that had to circle the airport in the rain for over an hour. Karen kept us informed about whether they would need to divert to the Sacramento airport. Fortunately, they were eventually able to land safely in Santa Rosa to the relief of everyone involved, especially the worried missionaries on board.

We have our usual spot by the automatic doors with our APs and tech sisters, proudly holding our welcome banner and ready to video the grand entrance. We are excited to greet these wide-eyed, nervous, and tired missionaries as they walk off the plane. Most of them have been up since 5:00 a.m. or earlier, fueled mostly by adrenaline. It always feels a little surreal to them that they are finally here in Santa Rosa, ready to dedicate the next 18 to 24 months of their lives to missionary service and perhaps wondering why Northern California feels colder than they expected.

*Elder Bracken, McIntyre, and Wilson holding the welcome banner*

*Sisters Mitchell, & Griffin taking a selfie before filming the missionaries as they arrive.*

*Sister & President Quinn waiting to greet our missionaries as they walk through the automated doors.*

We talk a lot about miracles in CASRM, and one miracle we witness every six weeks is welcoming somewhere between 10 and 20 new missionaries. Our biggest group so far was 27 missionaries! We, here in Santa Rosa, are just one of 451 missions around the world receiving new missionaries every six weeks, and it is heartwarming and exciting to see young adults in our church choosing to serve missions in record-breaking numbers.

At our Mission Leadership Seminar, Elder Anderson told us that the apostles are now extending mission calls to around 2,000 missionaries each week. One week, they called 3,000 missionaries. The church is adding 55 new missions beginning July 1st of this year. What a tribute to the faith, devotion, and willingness of these young people and the families who support them, to serve the Lord. Truly, the Lord is hastening His work.

*Here they come!! Missionaries just arriving.*

Looking at our IMOS site today on the computer we already have many missionaries scheduled to arrive in May, July, September and November! It is always fun to see their names and photos and anticipate their arrival. We receive missionaries from all over the world yet for us a majority of them come from Utah, Idaho, and Arizona. Right now we have missionaries from Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Hawaii, and Mexico. Fun for us we have two missionaries we have known from Naperville Illinois.

*President Quinn leading the way out of the airport, luggage in hand .*

*Missionaries waiting to load luggage into the trailer.*

Each missionary arrives with two suitcases and a carry-on filled with the essentials they’ll need for the next 18 to 24 months, which may include sweet and sour gummy bears. We walk them out to the curb, where the APs have a trailer waiting to transport all the luggage to the mission office/Badger Building. There, we have pizza, paperwork, and enthusiastic office missionaries ready to welcome them. President Quinn and I interview and personally greet each missionary. In these interviews sometimes there are tears, which makes sense because of the overwhelming feelings these missionaries have. They have just been taken out of their comfort zones leaving family, friends and everything familiar behind and thrown into the growth & learning zone. It’s a little scary. We also take a photo with them to send to their parents letting them know their missionary has arrived safely and they are in good hands!

*Posing with Hermana Adams for a photo for her parents*

This week we also enjoyed a quick visit from our daughter Hannah and her baby Alice. Ken (Hannah’s husband), and the older two children, Elaine and Sam, could not come this time. It was fun to get to know Alice better!

*Castello di Amorosa Winery in Calistoga California/Napa Valley. Sister Quinn with Hannah & Alice Francis*

*Alice enjoying her favorite treat, rootbeer, at Gott’s Road Side in St Helena/Napa Valley*

*The beautiful vineyards are once again in full bloom. - Napa Valley CA*

We began another cycle of interviews with our missionaries. I brought some shoe polish so the missionaries could freshen up their shoes if they wanted to. Life at the mission never slows down but thankfully we don’t have to be slowed down with big airport pickups in San Fransisco - thank you Sonoma County Airport! And thank you for reading my weekly mission up date.