Kristen's final day in the California Arcadia mission was Tuesday, November 19. Five months after starting her mission. To say she was excited to finally be on her way would be an understatement.
There was another elder in the California mission who had been a visa waiter for Adelaide as well. They flew out together and met up with a few other missionaries headed there as well.
She said a sad farewell to her current companions. One of her companions is actually from Lyons, CO and is in our stake. She and Sister Fullmer became great friends.
Her flight time and layovers took almost 24 hours. We tracked her as she flew on Tuesday and Wednesday. She arrived in Australia 17.5 hours ahead of us in Denver on Thursday afternoon.
Her mission president and his wife, Rhys and Jasmine Standley, met 21 new elders and sisters at the airport and recorded all of them arriving. Kristen was the last off the plane. I cried a little watching it.
Pres. Standley posts a lot of videos and pictures and posts them to Facebook, so it is fun to see Kristen every so often. He recorded the group of missionaries at the mission home having a Subway lunch and then again the next day as they all met their companions and left the mission home for the respective areas.
On Wednesday night, Kristen called. She had had a chill day (the president knows they have some jet lag). Her president said, "Go call your mums!" Amy, Misha and I chatted with her for about a half an hour. It was the middle of the night for Chris in London, so he missed out.
Sister Standley even popped onto our video chat for a minute saying how glad they were to have Sister Kline in the mission. Only mildly embarrassing that I was sitting in bed trying to stay covered up in my garments!