Week 1-- Kevin left today (February 2, 2015) for the MTC in Johannesburg, South Africa. He will be there for about two weeks before he goes to Harare, Zimbabwe. As I am writing this, he is flying over the Atlantic Ocean. He left Salt Lake City bound for Atlanta this morning a little after 11:00 am. He left Atlanta for Johannesburg at 7:20 pm eastern time. The flight will take about 15 hours. When Kevin got his travel plans, we were surprised and a bit confused as to why they had him leaving from Salt Lake rather than Denver, which is much closer to our home. We asked about that, but didn't ever get a reply. We just figured there must be some reason. Over the course of this past weekend, we had reaffirmed to us that our Heavenly Father really is in the details of our lives. This is winter in Wyoming, and that in and of itself is unpredictable. As we watched the weather forecast and saw that a big winter storm was heading our way exactly when we needed to be leaving, we changed our plans and left a day early. That was a good thing. We were able to get across Wyoming and to Salt Lake without being caught in terrible weather that caused many roads (including I-80) to be closed. If we had delayed our trip to our original timeline, we would have been stuck in Laramie. It was also a blessing because one of Kevin's grandmothers was not able to come to Laramie to see him off due to some health concerns. By flying out of Salt Lake we were able to make a small detour to visit her and some of his cousins on our way. We couldn't have done this if he'd flown out of Denver. We also found out that over 500 flights had been cancelled at the Denver airport due to the storm. It would have been absolute chaos to be at that airport--if we could have even gotten there. At the Salt Lake airport we timed it well--didn't have to wait in any long lines. We got Kevin checked in and then he was ready. He didn't want to hang around, but was just ready to head upstairs. Once we got upstairs, the security check was right there. His dad and I both got good long hugs--he was emotional, but more worried about us than himself. He squared his shoulders, headed through the security gate, and didn't look back. We watched until we couldn't see him anymore and then headed home. Technology is great! We tracked his flight from Salt Lake to Atlanta and then again as he left Atlanta headed to Johannesburg. As I write this, he's flying over the Atlantic Ocean and should arrive about the time I wake up tomorrow. Hopefully he'll be able to send us a quick email and let us know when he gets there. We're looking forward to that.