Travel Days....

 So this is the "band of merry men" before embarking on their journey to Cape Verde! 
R to L  Elder Bannerman, Elder Maake, Elder Massey, Elder Wakeham, Elder Penner, Elder Bullock, Elder Masubelele,  and Elder McMullin.

The next morning they left Salt Lake City for Atlanta with connecting flights to Madrid, Spain then Lisbon, Portugal and finally to Praia in Cape Verde.  We had a wonderful phone call from Salt Lake before their departure and a quick one to Mitch who was in California on business from their short layover in Atlanta.  They arrived in Madrid around 1 am Calgary time and were expected to be on the flight to Lisbon in a couple of hours.  While going through passport control, the 2 missionaries from South Africa were denied entry and were taken away from the remaining missionaries.  They tried their best to find out where they were and what was happening with them when they realized that they were not going to be able to make their connecting flight to Lisbon.  That's when I got a phone call around 3 am asking for help....
They had a couple of phone numbers but were having trouble with the calling card and the operator.  They could log onto a computer using a credit card so between the calling card and the computer, lots of prayers and many phone calls from Canada to the travel office and their mission president who was able to arrange from some help from the Spain Madrid Mission, the remaining 6 elders were able to get on a later flight to Lisbon.  By the time they arrived, there were no more connecting flights to Praia so they were "rescued" by the Portugal Lisbon Mission President and his wife, where they were fed and able to have a good night's sleep.  By this time, they had been traveling for over 36 hours! So despite missing 2 of their friends, they were relieved to be taken in and get some rest!

 The following afternoon they made the 4 hour flight to Praia where they were picked up by their mission president and most were able to go to the mission home for orientation and another night of sleep.  Sadly, Elder Penner had to just get off his flight only to board another one to his assignment in Mindelo.  Elder Massey has been assigned to serve in Maio with 3 other elders.   We received this picture in an email from Sister Mathews, the mission president's wife because it was too late for Elder Massey to even email us himself. 
Looking forward to P Day tomorrow to hear Elder Massey's version of his epic adventure since we haven't had any direct contact with him since he left Madrid on Wednesday evening.