Elder Spencer Christofferson: Pre Mission Activities

THE ADVENTURE OFFICIALLY BEGINS

And he's off! Saying goodbye was so hard, but in a happy way. Little did he know the first adventure would happen en route to the MTC in Brazil. Here is the story from our side of things ....

Update on Spencer: we took Spencer to the airport this morning and sent him off to Brazil without a glitch, or so we thought. He was flying direct to Atlanta and from there straight to Brazil. We had no sooner arrived at LAX and walked in to the check in area when Spencer spotted another young man dressed in a suit with large suitcases. We asked him if he was going to Brazil and sure enough he was!!! Another missionary would be on his flight with him all the way thru!!! I can tell you from that moment and all day long I have felt a confirmation that Heavenly Father not only watches out for our missionaries but he also watches out for their mommas! What a relief for me to know he had another missionary on his flight and he wouldn't be alone. The significance of this tender mercy grew about an hour and a half before Spencer was supposed to be landing in Atlanta from LAX and I saw that his flight was diverted due to thunder storms and now had to land in Memphis. (Yes I tracked his flight :-)) The delay caused Spencer and his travel companion to miss his flight to São Paulo tonight. His flight took off from Memphis 3 hours late and he finally arrived in Atlanta about an hour ago, 2 hours after his flight to Brazil had left!! He and the other Elder borrowed some kind travelers cell phone and quickly called the Emergency Missionary travel phone number to let them know what was going on. The travel office already has them booked on a flight out tomorrow afternoon going through New York and then on to Sao Paulo and delta is putting them up in a hotel tonight. Apparently 4 other elders missed the connection due to weather too! Spence will call again once he's settled at the hotel tonight and then tomorrow he'll be off for good!

As crazy as today has been, as emotional as we've felt and as concerned as we've been I have felt so much peace and know all will be well! Thank you for all of your love and prayers and calls and texts and well wishes! We have felt strengthened today because of our many wonderful friends and family. We love you!

Spencer called from the hotel around 2am Atlanta time to let us know they were safe. Thankfully he had packed a carryon with extra clothes so he didn't have to wear the same stuff for 2 1/2 days but what I didn't account for while packing was toiletries. He and his companion both had no toiletries so I told them to call housekeeping or go to the hotel store in the morning to get what they needed. Spencer gave us a little info about the missionary he was traveling with. His name is Elder Mabey (as in "Mabey they'll get to Brazil sometime soon" ) and he's from Torrance California. He'll be serving in the Sao Paulo West mission and is in the band. :-) We said goodnight and told Spencer he didn't need to call us again the next day unless there were emergencies and he needed to contact us, so that was our final goodbye until he flies out to his mission from the MTC in 6 weeks.

On Wednesday I tracked his flights and I posted another short update on facebook that night....

Spencer is FINALLY in the air (as of 5 minutes ago) and on his way to Brazil!! 🏻🏻 Poor kid has been traveling for 32 hours with 10 left to go but at least he's on the final leg! What an adventure he's already had and it's only the beginning!