We started in SLC saying goodbye to the family.. I met up with elder King and we began walking to our gate. Slowly, one by one, several more elders came. Also, slowly, our flight began to be delayed. We notified the church travel assistant, and assessed the situation, and she told us to still board the plane! As I walked onto the plane, I thought to myself.. ``Here I come Sao Paulo!`` Little did I know.
As I sat down, I met this kind lady from Atlanta, Georgia. We started talking, and immediately the words came to my head.. ``If not me, who? If not now, when?`` So i asked her if i could ask her a question. I asked her what the most important thing in her life was.. She told me that it was her family. I then asked her.. What would you say if I told you that you could live with your family forever? She began asking me more, and I showed her a few scriptures, and gave her a passalong card. I don´t know to what extent she will continue to learn or progress, but I do know that I planted a seed that may continue to grow later in her life.
Well we soon landed in Atlanta, only to find out that our flight to Sao Paulo had already left. Elder Kleinman and I immediately started contacting the Church travel assistant to see what we should do. They soon hooked us up with the assistants from the Georgia, Atlanta mission.. We contacted them, and coordinated a place where we would meet them. So all nine missionaries of us (6 elders, 3 sisters) walked outside and waited for the assistants to come. I began talking to a man named Javier. He is a very nice Nicoraguan man who lives in Charlotte. His flight was also delayed. He asked me what I was doing there, and we started talking about the church. He became very interested in what we believe in. He even eventually asked me for a Book of Mormon! As I was just about to tell him that I didn´t have one with me, the assistants showed up.. So I asked them for a book, and then I gave it to Javier. The assistants took his information, and he said that as soon as he made it home in Charlotte, he would meet with some missionaries. Again, I don´t know to what extent he will keep progressing and learning about our gospel, but another seed had been planted in Javier..
Well we left with the assistants, Elder Shepherd, and Elder Gillespie.. They are both awesome!! Well they took us to Chick-fil-a at 3 in the morning.. We were all starving! We then dropped the sisters off at the mission home, while us elders headed to the assistants´ apartment. We ended up getting there at about 3:45, and after talking for a little, and getting ready for bed, we all crashed on the floor. The next morning we woke up, ate some breakfast, got ready, and headed to the mission home to get our new itinerary. Our new flights said that Elder King, Elder Herlin and I would fly to JFK at 5 pm, and then from JFK to Sao Paulo at 9 pm. These weren´t just any flights however.. For some reason, our next flights were first class! We really lucked out, but it was an awesome experience. After several gate changes, we finally boarded the plane to JFK. We landed about and hour before our flight to Sao Paulo, and we were relieved to know that we would actually make it!
We took off for Sao Paulo, they served us an awesome beef roast for dinner, and then I passed out. I fell asleep at about 2, and woke up at 7.. They served us some breakfast, and then we prepared to land..
We landed, went through customs, got our luggage, and as we walked out, I saw a familiar face. It was Lucas! He was standing there with a huge smile.. Well we then drove to the MTC, and here I am writing this email now!
Well this is all the time we have, but I am great, happy, and excited to put on that nametag and represent the Lord!
Love you all!
Elder Nydegger
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