On Monday, March 23, 2015 we went to the SLC airport to catch the 9:40 am flight to Atlanta, GA. When we got to the ticket counter we found out our tickets were not all in order. Church Travel had not bought our return tickets and So Africa will not let you in unless you have return tickets. They called the Church Travel 24/7 hot line and had us our return tickets in about 5 minutes.

After going through security we met up with the medical missionaries (Elder and Sister Birrell) that are going to Zambia. They will fly as far as Johannesburg with us. The plane left on time and off we went into the wild blue yonder.

It was dinner time when we got to Atlanta so we ate dinner with the Birrells and that helped the time pass. We had an almost 5 hour layover there. While there we were surprised by another senior couple that were flying to Durban also. They are Elder and Sister Woolston. They were supposed to go out in January but she got sick while at the MTC and they weren't able to leave until March. They flew into Atlanta about an hour after we got there. We didn't know they were coming but they were told to look for us. It was great being with other senior couples and the time went by quickly.

Now came the part I was dreading. The 15 hour flight to Johannesburg. I was able to sleep a little during the flight and watched some movies and some meals were served. The flight seemed to last forever. I survived, that is all that matters.

 In Johannesburg we said good bye and good luck to the Birrells and we caught our flight to Durban. That flight only lasted a little over an hour but by this time we are pretty wiped out. We got there about 10:30 pm Tuesday. The mission president (President Zackrison) and his wife and the office couple, Elder and Sister Poelman met us at the airport and helped us load our luggage into their cars. Then they whisked off to a nearby Bed and Breakfast where we fell into bed and immediately fell asleep.