Telephone Call from the Airport!

And they're off!
Loren and his uncle, Bryan Swan, at the SLC airport.
Loren and Sister Jessica Iverson. Jess is going to the San Pablo, Philippines mission. Jessica is Bryan's sister-in-law.
Family talk time! Loren's companion, Elder Thorn, in the back.


Hi! Kerry here. We talked to Loren for just over an hour on Monday evening (April 6) while he was waiting for his flight to San Francisco. He sounded great! He was so excited to go to the Philippines. Loren loved the eight weeks he spent in the MTC saying that it was the best 8 weeks of his life. He said the food was great until the last week or so then he was pretty tired of it all. He and Rachel discussed the finer points of Tagalog. . . (I didn't follow all of that conversation!). . . and he bore his testimony in Tagalog (I could pick out words like Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith, and Messiah!) There were 12-15 missionaries all heading to the Philippines, but only 4 of them going to Angeles. This last week they were carefully instructed on many points of the Filipino culture and cautioned about not offending the people there by laughing or commenting on things that appear strange to them. Loren explained that we might not see many pictures because the people there may be sensitive to having their picture taken, and it sounds like the cameras are often stolen if they carry them with them. In fact, they were told about one missionary who asked a Filipino to take his picture. He handed the Filipino his camera and the guy turned and ran off with the camera!
As we ended our conversation with Loren, he said he felt like he was on the brink and had the sensation he was falling over the edge. We hope he lands softly!