This email was originally sent by Mandy on August 4th, 2016.  Due to email issues that you may have seen in other posts, she resent it to us.  We received it on August 28th.

Week 1: 1st class and Tim Tam's

I finally made it to NEW ZEALAND!!!  After 20 hours of traveling, sitting and attempting to sleep I finally made it. :)  (sorry the enter key isn't working this will be a large paragraph).  There was a large group of missionaries traveling to LAX.  We had maybe a total of 12 of us all assigned to the same flight.  Half of them had already spent time in the Provo MTC and were traveling to LA to make another connecting flight to their missions.  When it was time for us to board I actually bumped into Kapali!!  He happened to be working that day and was the one to check my ticket.  Small world right?!?!  For some reason, I was asked to move from the seat I was originally assigned to first class!!  However it was only a single seat, and I was kind of lonely being separated from my new friends.  I'm not sure I've ever been to an international airport before, because when I saw the airport in LA I was amazed.  It was HUGE!!  The five of us called to serve in New Zealand plus an elder called to serve in the Philippines all became really close.  Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to the elder called to serve in the Philippines at the LAX airport.  The airplane to New Zealand was HUMONGOUS!!  There were three columns of seating with three seats in each column.  The real challenge on this flight was to pick between the airplane meals, and attempting to sleep. ;) We were lucky enough to see the sunrise as we approached New Zealand, but once we dove under the clouds you could now longer see the sun.  Instead, there was a gray sky and light showers!!  It's about 60 F at the moment with a slight breeze, so just a little chilly but not enough to wear my coat.  One of the elders bought a Tim Tam while at the airport, which is a candy bar that tastes similar to a Kit Kat.  I only have a minute left to write, but I want to let you guys know that I'm safe and that I love you!!  I have pictures, but I'll have to send them later.  Until next time.

Sister Welker