Sweet Reunion
last week, my brother came home from his 2 year mission in el salvador and belize!! this was a big deal because for two years, we were only able to email once a week and skype twice a year. so this was our first time seeing and hugging him in two years! everyone came home to los angeles to greet him at the airport (riley had to work so he came the next day). it was also exciting because it was kayla and grant’s first time home in two years as well! usually you’ll see missionaries coming down the escalator and their family is waiting at the bottom with signs and huge smiles. well, it didn’t happen like that for us…let me tell you why :) we were waiting at the bottom of the escalator that the lady told us his flight would be coming down from. and she was right, most of bryce’s flight did come down that escalator. we waited and waited and figured him and the other missionary were the last ones off the plane or they were helping an old lady somewhere ;) grant (my sister’s husband) was posed and ready with a camera for bryce to come down any minute. we were all holding our signs in one hand and our phone cameras in the other, ready to take videos. all of a sudden, i hear my mom scream (i was like okay, really you’re going to scream?! haha) so we all turn towards her and see that bryce came out of nowhere and surprised us from behind! those silly boys went down the wrong escalator on the other side of baggage claim! so we didn’t get the shot of him coming down the escalator but it was maybe better that it was a surprise! it was so crazy haha my mom starting crying of course and hugged him like five times. as it became real to me, i also started crying and couldn’t believe i was hugging him! it was so exciting and fun! he seemed so much taller than we remembered and super tan! we took a ton of photos as you’ll see below. i’m posting all of these despite the double chins and ugly cry faces (plus some repeats and blurry shots) because i want to remember this day!
i was honestly sad that his mission was over! it went so fast! i hated sending that last email to him, but of course i was happy to see him. it was such an amazing experience to watch him grow and teach and serve. i think it brought our family closer together and made us want to be better people because we always wanted to impress bryce haha :) bryce was in central america teaching the people about christ and bringing them to the true church! we couldn’t wait to hear all of his stories! he told us some crazyyy things that i’m glad we didn’t know while he was there. he says el salvador is a beautiful country but i think i’ll visit belize instead :) go here to find out more about lds missions!