Leaving on a Jet Plane

(From Josh's mom)

We just talked to Josh on the phone this morning. He was at the airport awaiting his flight to Houston Texas. He is traveling with 7 other elders and 2 sisters who are also going to the Texas Houston mission, English speaking. He hadn't met them before this morning.

He sounded great! He said that he LOVED the MTC. He thought when he was going there that it would be all about learning the language--and it is, but more importantly, he said, he learned to recognize and teach with the spirit. 

He LOVED his teachers there and said they had helped him and his companions so much. 

 

Brother Gomes with his students, Elders Barrus, Wilson, and Sitterud

He also loved the camaraderie among the missionaries--those in his district and zone, and also all of the missionaries there. He said you could sit down and talk to any of them and have a great conversation and feel a kinship with them.

Elder Li from Hong Kong--a basketball friend. He's heading to Vancouver, BC, Canada

He told us that he would probably call between 6:30 and 7:00 am, so by 8:30, we were getting a little nervous that we wouldn't be able to talk to him, since his flight was leaving at 9:30. But, the phone finally rang around 8:40 and we talked for about 20 minutes. All of the phones at the airport were being used by missionaries calling their families, so a nice "brother" from Texas let him borrow his cell phone, which is why it came up as "Texas" on the caller ID. 

He said he was excited to get going, and a little nervous, but not too nervous. He was anxious to meet his mission president. We've heard such wonderful things about President and Sister Mortensen and are so glad he will have such caring "mission parents" for the next 2 years. 

Here is a link to a news article from a Houston area TV station about President Russell M Nelson's recent visit to Houston and his meeting with all the missionaries in the area:

http://abc13.com/1234890/

Here are few pictures he sent yesterday in a brief email:

Flag of Hong Kong, front view

Rear view flag of Hong Kong

I have to be at the travel office at 4:50 am, but I'm thrilled that I'm finally off to Texas. Last night we met with our teacher, Thiago for the last time and it was powerful. He showed us some scriptures that prophesied of us being directly involved with the literal gathering of Israel, which is sooooo cool. This is God's work. We are gathering His sheep, like you said in your dear-elder letter I got yesterday. I love you both. I'll talk to y'all tomorrow.

Elder Josh Barrus, tus hijo (your son)