(July 15th (16th), 2023)
June is home!! She served faithfully for 18 months for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Santiago, Dominican Republic mission. She wasn't ready to come home, but it was time. Her travel plans were to leave the DR early in the morning on Saturday and arrive at our airport around 7:30 pm. You already know that didn't go quite according to plan. We watched as her arrival time got later and later. It finally stalled around 12:50 am. That was great because it meant she was finally in the air and on her way. On our end, we arrived at the airport and decided to wait in the Arrivals lot. We tried to get a little sleep since we had some time to kill.
We went in around 12:30. The airport was basically empty. No flights were departing. But in the arrival area, it was packed. I think there was around 20 missionaries coming in on June's flight. It was fun to see so many excited families and lots of signs. We brought ours too.
It was after 1 am before the missionaries started exiting. June was first out. (She is a fast walker.) It was so great to see her!
Hugs for everyone. Usually parents are first up, but we got hugs mid mission in the DR, so we let the kids go first.
All the kids back together. How great is that? And you have to love Beau's epic sign. There was nothing else like it of course.
We got to meet a couple of June's mission friends. Sister Fioli served tandem with June even though they were never companions. I think we'll see more of her around. There were even a couple sisters who came back in April but were at the airport to welcome missionaries.
The wait wasn't over though. Because of all of the delays, luggage ended up in weird places, so we waited another hour for another plane to arrive that had June's luggage. We didn't want to come back later and it was already late, so why not wait?
All luggage eventually arrived and was collected. We got back home right before 3 am. Phew. Wild ride. Then June discovered that her suitcases were damp on the inside. She didn't have liquids in there, but somehow moisture got in there. (Maybe something was leaking above her luggage? Maybe they dropped them in the ocean for a moment? Who knows? Not as weird as the knife...) June was up late unpacking everything and laying it out so it could dry. This is what we found in the morning. Oof.
Even though we were home late, we were up early to take June over to meet with the Stake President for her official release.
It was a really spiritual experience. Everyone got to talk about their feelings. You could see June struggling with the idea of taking off the tag. I don't blame her. After a year and a half, it was sad to see it go. There were tears all around. Tyler bragged that he cried the most. Not sure if that is something to brag about, but I'm glad he can show his tender side.
Although it was hard for June to leave her mission, we are thrilled to have her back. You can tell it in the little things. Like Daisy decorating the window and Pearl reading all the conference talks and marking them with a special message. :)
June also had gifts for everyone. She had fun parceling them out to each of the family.
She had an assortment of Dominican tubis for us. Those are special Dominican hats that women wear to keep their styled straightened hair up, between showing it off. Pearl has the most hair, so we wrapped hers up to try it out.
June brought back a wooden figurine for each of us.
And she speaks my love language.
She even remembered that Pearl wanted sand.
Everyone got some new Dominican flow. We are looking sharp.
Welcome home June. You are so loved and I'm excited to see what new adventures are in store for you. Oh, June also grew on the mission. Church is true! Luke 2:52 sums it up. "And June increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man"
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