Hello My dear Family! J 

I love you all so much and am so glad to be able to write you! YAY, its my first preparation day! 

So you'll never guess where I am! I am in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. I don’t even know where I am because I am not a-loud to look it up on Google maps or whatever because I am not aloud to get on any other internet sites then LDS.org and some others!

So just so we can have a written account of my travels: I left the MTC at 7:30 AM on the 10th of July on a flight to Detroit, Michigan; the plane was 25 minutes late so we arrived at Detroit, after passing two time zones, at around 1:55 I believe. While in Detroit I learned that my 3:15 flight to Norfolk Virginia had been delayed to around 3:55 and later to 4:10. So after scouting around and finding a phone I then called my dear family to tell them where I was but they did not answer my call (FAIL AUSTIN!!!!). My travel group and myself, 26 of us in all,  then discovered that our 4:10 flight to Norfolk had been canceled due to mechanical issues in Kentucky……….. >L, so our group of 26 of us were then all given new travel itineraries, many of us were re-booked for flights going into Virginia the next morning so they were forced to stay in Detroit at a nice little hotel. Me on the other hand, I was offered to fly as a single passenger to the JFK terminal in New York and jump on a plane to Norfolk later that evening (the 10th) and be the first of our travel group to make it to Virginia! So YAY!! I was going to go to New York, so I jumped on the plane and was given a seat at the very back of the plane next to the very last window seat, so HA! I was able to fly over parts of Canada and I was able to fly straight over the city of New York, I could see all the super tall buildings and I flew right over central park!! BOOYA! Hehe, soon after landing in New York at the JFK terminal I checked my next flight’s status and found out that the flight had been canceled!!! >L. So I got into a HUGE line to get re-booked for another flight and discovered that most if not all of the flights heading into the east coast, Virginias, Carolinas, and all other southern states, had been canceled due to thunder storms……… >L. So after standing in line for close to two hours I finally got a new itinerary and it said that I was going to fly to Atlanta Georgia at 6:20 the next morning and then from Atlanta to Norfolk. But here was my dilemma, I didn't have my I.D. with me and I was afraid that security at JFK would not let me back into the terminal, at Salt Lake they barely let me in because I had my social security card, birth certificate and they recognized me as a missionary, but they still gave me the royal treatment though: they went through every single thing in my shoulder bag and my carry on, they scanned me twice, and they patted me down nice and good……… :P……. I didn't think they would treat me so NICELY at JFK so I got to sleep in the Terminal, yep call me Victor cause I did the whole thing, I moved the seats and jumped up when a plane went by and I got to eat terminal food…..Wendy’s……Gross!! haha. So that was my New York experience! So after getting close to an hour of sleep, mixed with the fact that I woke up at 2:30 on the morning of my departure from Salt Lake, I was very tired. But I jumped on a shuttle that took me form terminal C to terminal B and was able to get in line for my flight to Atlanta. While in line I met a rather interesting young women from Australia who had the coolest accent but some very strange description phrases….. hmmm. Anyway, while I was in line I checked my ticket and discovered that the Airline had Opt for me to fly to Atlanta FIRST CLASS!!!!! ;) So from New York to Georgia I was flying in style and I have to say, it looked good on me! ;) and I was dressed the part so I didn't get any second glances and they fed me a super rich style breakfast; it was a granola cereal with sliced honeydew and every other rich looking thing like a crescent. Well, after I landed in Atlanta, I checked my second ticket to Norfolk and found the gate no problem. As I was waiting to board I just new that something was going to go wrong so I couldn't get over my anxiety and that left me a little jumpy but other wise okay. I jumped on my flight to Norfolk and was able to jump in front of everyone else because for this flight I was part of the sky priority group!! Hehe, it wasn’t first class but I got on the plane first! So after my hour and half long flight to Virginia I finally landed and could breath again!! J haha. And that concluded my missionary travel experience. 

AND I ALMOST FORGOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So yesterday was my first sunday here in the field and you'll never guess what happened! 

Elder Bednar came to my wards sacrament meeting!!!!!!!

Yep, that's right! I was there to meet Elder Bednar, i was the first person to shake his hand cause me and Elder Jones were 'guarding' his parking spot. I WAS THE FIRST!!!! his address was so so so good and ill have to give you more details but i don't have time! he addressed us and then held a question and answer session which took up all three hours of church. It was amazing!!  I also got one of his cards cause i was persistent, i asked Elder Jones if it was okay if i asked for him to sign my hymn book but i think we both thought it a little over the top, so i just asked for one of his 'business' cards haha, it was a great way to start a mission!!

Here is a picture of Tony and His first companion!!