Josh is Home!! (Mom Post)

We were busy getting things ready for Josh's return! We headed over to the airport around 5:15. His flight was expected at 6:25. Usually when we have picked up our missionaries, they were the only missionary flying into St. George. But today there were several! The first family we met also had an Elder Jensen coming home! We said, "That's perfect, we will all be cheering for Elder Jensen!" 

Then another family arrived and it was Mark Tarr and his wife, the family we had met two years ago at the Golden Corral when dropping off Josh to the MTC! Mark was in LD Singers with me at Snow. At the time we laughed about how we had also run into them when we were dropping off Janelle to the MTC and they were dropping off their daughter to the MTC! Their son was also going to Korea, but the other mission. So it was funny to run into them again at the airport for the return of both our boys!! 

We also ran into people we knew from our ward and area who were welcoming back a sister missionary. There were also a couple other missionaries coming home from Korea (but the other mission). So there were lots of Korean flags, and posters, and people, and excitement! The missionaries came out one at a time, instead of all at once, which was nice because each one could greet and get hugs from his or her family and then move off to another area to make more room for the other families waiting for their missionaries. 

Josh was one of the last missionaries to come out. He had gone to change into traditional Korean robes, which was fun! A lady who was on the airplane saw our banner and said, "don't worry -- he is coming!" It was wonderful getting that long awaited hug when he finally did come! We all did our hugs and took pictures over by the baggage area and had him run through the finish line! The chant Dad decided on was: "Josh, it's time! Cross the line!" (repeated three times getting louder and louder). You can see our cheesy chant in the video! 

Then we all headed to the house. Josh wanted Dominoes pizza for his first meal, which made it easy! Rick ordered it and Janelle and Bryton picked it up at 7:30. We ate and then Rick, Josh, and I went to the church to meet with President Rowan for Josh's release. We then went back and met back up with the rest of the family. 

We have a tradition for our new returned missionaries where they teach our family right after they get home. Josh gave a very nice lesson and it was very touching! We have loved this tradition. The lessons of our new returned missionaries have always had such an impact on all of us!