Our final time together before we say good bye and send Elder Simonsen off...
For Elder Simonsen to be able to to go straight to the Brazil MTC is seriously answered prayers. For several months none of the LDS missionaries seemed to be getting their visa's for Brazil. We had one Elder from our ward who left in March and was sent to Montana while he still awaited his visa. July 1st our ward did a ward fast for our missionaries going to Brazil. That the pathways would be open and they would be able to serve where the Lord needed them. Two weeks later, I received a phone from a sister in our ward telling me Brexton needed to contact his person in Salt Lake City. Brazil no longer was dealing with third parties for visa's. Brexton would have to go down to Miami and apply for his visa in person. Everything fell into place and SLC shipped the paper needed back to us and luckily the next day we were driving to Miami for a family vacation anyway. (other wise the church would have sent him via airplane). While in Miami, Brexton went and applied for his visa and we were in and out of there in no time. The week before Brexton was to report to the MTC, the church was making airline reservations and since they had not received his visa they would have to send him to Provo, Utah's missionary training center. We discovered Brexton's visa application had a tracking number on it and we were able to check it and the status on it as well. It had been processed, accepted and waiting to be delivered... We were freaking out. we had been praying it would come before Brexton left and he would be able to go straight to Brazil. Sure enough Thursday we received confirmation it had been delivered and we called Salt Lake City and they found it with the tracking number. Friday it was delivered to us and Brexton was heading to Brazil. The other three missionaries from our ward all needing their visa's right now too???? Their's came in too. Elder Bonaro who is serving in Montana right now will be joining the missionaries in Brazil Sept 2 and going to his area. All five missionaries called from our ward are all going to their own areas. Brexton was really excited to be able to be flying to Brazil with two other missionaries from our ward who had already been to the provo mtc for a couple weeks. Since they now had their visa's too they were able to fly out today and meet Brexton in Atlanta with other missionaries and they all flew to Sao Paulo, Brazil together. Personal tender mercy and a testimony builder about fasting and prayer. We're excited for this incredible journey Brexton is about to embark on and serve the Lord and be an instrument in His hands to bring the fullness of the gospel to other's about our Savior Jesus Christ.
