Temporary Change in Travel plans

Today was a highlight for the Merrill family because Elder Merrill got to call us from the airport, HOORAY!!!!

Well, let's backtrack a bit and give an update. Elder Merrill had also given us a 5 minute call (oh yes, it was exactly 5 minutes, lol) on Thursday to let us know that his visa to go to Argentina had not arrived and so he is going to serve temporarily in the Columbia, South Carolina mission while he waits for it.   

So today is his actual travel day and so he got to call us on his way out. He rang us from the Atlanta airport as he had some time to wait for his final flight.  

"Thanks for the alarm clock you sent me mom. It came in very handy this morning when I had to wake up at 3:15 to get ready to leave for the airport!  It's a good thing I've had to get up at 6:30 for the past 2 months so it wasn't too bad waking up that early."

We talked about how fast the training time at the MTC had gone by and how interesting this temporary assignment to the southeast will be.

"On the flight to Atlanta, we couldn't watch movies or shows of course, but we could watch the map of the flight and see where South Carolina is. It was a 3 hour flight to Atlanta and then we have a 1 hour flight up to Columbia."

We asked about the other missionaries in his district:

"Well, all 8 of us are getting temporarily assigned because none of our visas came in.  5 of us are going to South Carolina, 1 is going to Wisconsin, 1 is going to Colorado and 1 is going to Mississippi.  I feel sorry for the guy going to Colorado because he has never flown before and ends up getting the shortest flight out of all of us!"

I said it would be cool if the missionary going to Wisconsin ran into Elder Pinter, who is a friend of ours from our time in England and is serving his mission up there.  

"That reminds me mom, one of my instructors, a guy named Steven Hopper, served with Stuart in Maryland. He saw my name and after we talked he realized that he served with my brother!"

What a small world, too funny! I reminded Elder Merrill to send us his contact information as soon as possible and he said he would.  It was so unbelievably good to hear his voice! He is happy and well and excited about getting out into the mission field!