He made it to Sweden!

On Monday morning we had a nice chat with Äldste Ashford while he was waiting for his flight to leave Salt Lake City.  They had a very early start and then took the light rail to the airport.  Spencer was assigned to be the travel leader - and he said they just gave us directions about which stops to take and then sent us off.  He was a little nervous to be in charge since he hadn't done the light rail before, but it all went great.  He was cute about ending our conversation in time to round up his group to make sure they all made the flight.  We will have to wait to get an email from him to hear how the rest of the travel went.

There were 9 elders and 1 sister missionary that traveled to Sweden.  One of the elders is still waiting on his visa and will be in California until it arrives.

We followed their flights across the globe.  They traveled from Salt Lake City, to New York (JFK), to Amsterdam, and finally to Stockholm.  They were traveling more than a day but lost a few hours in travel, they were so excited to finally arrive in Sweden.  Hopefully they were able to sleep a little bit.

We know that on this flight they sat together in 2 groups.  Not sure about the other flights, forgot to ask.

We received an email from the mission home on Tuesday:

Dear Parents,

We just wanted to let you know that your missionary arrived safely in Sweden this morning. They were in good spirits and excited to be here. We will be emailing you some more pictures in a few days and your missionary will be emailing you on Monday.

Syster ClouseCorrespondence Secretary

Also included were the following photos.  We got an email from the President Beckstrand, the mission president, this morning that detailed how their first day went.  It helps when looking at the photos.

"Upon arrival, he was taken into the city of Stockholm for immigration paperwork. He then had a glimpse of Stockholm with photo opportunities, a light lunch, instructions, training, and contacting in the streets of Stockholm with one of our exceptional, experienced missionaries. 

The mission office was his next stop with an orientation to the Sweden Stockholm Mission policies and procedures. Shortly thereafter, Sister Beckstrand and I invited your son and his MTC group to dine with us at the mission home. I had the wonderful opportunity to spend some time in an interview with your son. We concluded the day’s activities with family scriptures and prayer and retired for the evening at the Mission Home."

Nope- No sign of our elder in this photo.

Not in this one either, maybe he was in the van loading the luggage?

 Photo Opportunities in Stockholm

Light Lunch.  Doesn't look very Swedish.  :)

And why are most of them still wearing their coats?
Specifically, of all of them, why is our Minnesotan still wearing his coat?

I love all of the smiles!  They all look very happy to be there.