First Phone Call Home 10/7/13

I am a bit late getting this typed up but Monday the 7th was a great day! Elder Hall called home around 2:30pm while he was at the Atlanta, Georgia airport on a 5 hour wait for his flight to Buenos Aires. It was so great to hear his voice and after that initial shedding of tears from him & myself it was non stop conversation (minus a few disconnection issues!)  He is doing so good and sounded so excited for Argentina. He was definitely nervous for what he was about to embark upon, but he was ready to take it head on!  Some funny news is that he put on 17 lbs in his 5.5 weeks in the MTC!  He said it is mainly in his face & belly, so funny! I'm thinking he will be fine because I've heard most missionaries end up losing about 15 lbs once they get to a different country & adjust to the water & the food.  He said his Spanish is OK, when it comes to church doctrine he has it down, but to have normal conversation in Spanish, not so much!  We were able to talk for about 2.5 hours until he heard in the background they were boarding early & they hadn't even gotten anything to eat yet or made it down to the international terminals as there were no pay phones there so they stayed in the domestic terminals.  It made for a quick goodbye and he was on his way! If I remember correctly there were 12 of them traveling to Argentina, 8 that were going to the Buenos Aires South Mission with him (i could be off on those #s, forgive me if he says something different!!) Anyway it was just great to hear his voice & his contagious laugh & know that he is well & loving being a missionary so far!  Now I haven't heard from him yet, I assume he made it to Buenos Aires, the only confirmation I received was looking up the flight # on Delta & seeing that his flight was completed! I had hoped for an email or something from him, but I guess we will have to wait until pday, which I assume will be on Monday, which will seem like FOREVER!  He wanted me to thank everyone for their support, for all the letters and packages that were sent to him while he was in the MTC. As soon as I have his new address I will post it.