Our daughter and son went on Chinese speaking missions at the beginning of August 2021, and trained in the Chinese language for two months before departing for Hawaii and Montreal, Canada respectively.
Emily was the first to return today, because even though missions for the young adult men in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are typically 2 years and have a duty to serve, the standard length of time for young adult women who chooses to go is 1.5 years, and she has no ordained duty to God to do so. Emily felt called of the Lord to go, and so she did!
Here is a short clip of that great and exciting event! (for our family 😁)
In the days leading up to this great reunion, Emily reminisced on the month before and wrote a blog entry last week which can be found here: https://www.enoch.com/post/in-case-i-don-t-see-ya-good-afternoon-good-evening-and-goodnight
Emily served in Laie, Hawaii for most of her mission, and then also served in the big City of Honolulu, HI for many months. Then back to Laie for the remainder of the 18 months.
Well, the anticipated day finally arrived, and seven of our family's vehicles filled up with parents and kids, and family left for the Fresno Airport Terminal (FAT).
The flight was half an hour early, and we were 10 mins late, but there's a lot of time between landing and getting to the exit gate where our great reunion would take place, so we got to see her come down the long long corridor and then excitement erupted.
It's all so public there, but nobody in our party seemed to notice, eyes fixed on ems. Grandma Johnson did gather the kids just before she appeared, and told them "alright, there won't be any screaming" and you know? They all listened to that. It was an exciting few moments, and lots of smiles and holding back on the volume a bit, and the little ones so anxious to give Emily a hug!
After, dinner was waiting up the mountain at home. What a day, one of the best there could ever be. The big reunion was so fun and special that day.