How can you arrive in California three hours before you leave Australia?

Just ask Elder L. That is exactly what he did last Tuesday. He left Sidney, Australia at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, and arrived at LAX at 8:30 a.m. that same Tuesday. Well…..not exactly the same Tuesday. He had two Tuesday’s in a row. Pretty amazing, right?

Anyway, the wonderful news is that S5 is home, after serving a wonderful mission in Adelaide, Australia. Mom, Dad and M4 drove down to LAX in the early, wee hours of the morning to have our first sight of him in over 2 years. And he looks great. He got a huge grin on his face as soon as he spotted us. Of course that grin could have just been relief that he was finally out of the plane after thirteen and a half hours, but we prefer to believe that he was happy to see us.

After leaving the airport, S5 wanted to walk around a bit to stretch his legs. So we thought, “What better place for a returning missionary to stretch his legs than the temple grounds?” (and what other place is open at that time of the morning?)

When we arrived home he showed us some things he brought home with him. Can you believe that they let him go tracting looking like this?

Cool, huh? Oh, yes, when he was in Katherine he wore this hat and sunglasses tracting every day.

So…it is great to have him home. He has been struggling with jet lag, and trying to adjust to driving on the right side of the road, but otherwise doing just great.