Mission To The Land of The Long White Cloud: Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

In the words of the Grateful Dead, "What a long, strange trip it has been". We've done a lot of traveling over the past little while. We left our home in Boise on October 19. First we went to Arizona. The six weeks we spent there were a very special part of this journey. From Arizona we went on to Utah for our training at the MTC and in Salt Lake. That was a spiritual fire hose. And now we have accomplished the last leg of our journey - bringing us half way across the world. We've lived out of suitcases and feasted on anticipation. Now the time is here to truly begin.

Elder Bennett on the plan to Auckland

Me on the Front Runner Train
From Orem to SLC

I've been reflecting on how much things have changed from the early days of the church when missionaries were sent out. We've gone from "crossing the plains" to "crossing in planes" to build up the kingdom.

Our flight on Air New Zealand was very comfortable. While 13 hours seemed like a long flight, considering we just went half way around the world it really wasn't that long.

We were fed both dinner and breakfast. The meals were actually quite yummy!

Everyone on the plane had their own screen with many different choices of what to watch or listen to for entertainment to pass the time. Elder Bennett was watching one of his favorite TV shows: "Arrow". Someone to the left of me was watching the classic American movie "Gone With The Wind". I chose a New Zealand Movie, "The Pa Boys" (about a fictional reggae band touring the country).