"With one minute to spare..."

Austin suprised us with a phone call from the Dallas, Texas airport Monday morning at 9:00 a.m. Evidently, the missionaries are allowed to make a phone call during their airport departure. How sweet it was to hear Austin's voice and to hear how ready he was to get to Raliegh to serve. Austin and 6 other missionaries from his district reported to the MTC travel office at 3:30 a.m. to catch the 6:30 flight out of Salt Lake. They had a smooth trip to Texas, but somewhere either at the Salt Lake airport or Dallas airport, two missionaries missed their flight. We are assuming the increased security checks at the airports might have given the missionaries a challenge. Austin told us, "...the other 4 of us made our flight with one or two minutes to spare, PHEW!" So, Elder AJ is off to North Carolina. We assume it will be a week or two before we are able to receive mail as he will be receiving a trainer companion, new assignments and settling in. The excitment continues and Austin says that he is more than ready to get to work. He had had enough of the brick walls of the MTC classrooms. He is psyched to have a chance to use his discussion skills and said that those he worked with at the MTC commented that he and Elder Dalton really invited a strong spirit into their discussions. Those that were taught and approached by Elder Johnson and Elder Dalton felt they were two very strong missionaries. What a great start!