One of the very great blessings of going on senior missions is getting to know the young missionaries. By going to Fort Lauderdale and working in the office we got to know most of the missionaries. Some we got to know really well and got to know their families through this blog and after we got home.

On the 30th of January 9 of those amazing FFLM missionaries arrived home and were greeted by family and friends. We were blessed to be there and to get to know those families we had not met before and of course to join in welcoming the missionaries home.  Sisters Emily Bagley,  Emma Daines, Crishelle Stegelmeier, Elders Ryan Johnson, Nathan Lee, Landon Loucks, Joseph Pearce, Colton Pond and Erik Benitez all served honorable missions and helped many through the gate and down the path to Eternal Life.

Every family had one or more signs to welcome their missionary home.

They waited patiently for the plane to arrive and then for the missionaries to get down the escalators.

The Loucks family did one of their signs in Creole. I gave the prize for the best sign to the Lee family…who could ignore that beautiful child.

 

We got to meet Elder Pearce’s family – sister Pearce said she was a follower of this blog. The mothers lined up as the anticipated moment was about to arrive.

We got to meet the Bagley family and I thought this was a great sign. They said that is what friends called Sister Bagley.

We got to meet the Pearce family for the first time. Sister Pearce said she was a regular reader of this blog. Sister Stegelmeier got out in front when she thought she saw her very tall daughter.

She was rewarded by being the first mom to get a big hug. Sisters Daines and Bagley were close behind and soon got their hugs.

Then came the elders. From left to right Elders Benetiz, Pond – way in the back pulling the red suitcase, Lee with the blue tie, Johnson already being hugged by his mom, and elder Pearce who you can only see part of pulling the black suitcase. The last to arrive was elder Loucks who I think teased his mother by hanging back and then stopping before he got to her. But he soon got his big hug.

The sisters are all in the picture on the left. Elder Pearce gets a big hug from his mother.

I got to take some family pictures. Elder Pearce and Elder Lee’s families. We had the pleasure of having brother and sister Lee in our home a few months ago. We had a good talk about the mission and their missionary.

We got to meet the Benitez family. We had the honor of having the Stegelmeier family come to our homecoming. Sister Stegelmeier the younger got roses. I thought she should have worn her Florida dark glasses with the pink mustache.

 

We got to meet the elder Ryan Johnson family for the first time. Later as we were leaving I noticed that elder Johnson was getting the contact information from a man he had opened his mouth to – a real missionary to the end. The picture on the right is the Morgan Utah group – the Loucks family on the left and the Stegelmeier family on the right. Their two missionaries will be giving their reports on the same day in different wards and we will be able to be at both of them.