By the hair of his chinny-chin-chin!

March 24, 2008 started with some excitement for Josh, it was the day he was to leave the MTC to fly to Nashville. Josh and his companion (Elder Knaras, who will also be serving in the Nashville Mission) were to report to the MTC Travel Office by 6:00 a.m. Josh reports that they may have stayed up a little late on Sunday night getting ready to go and saying good-bye to good friends in the MTC. They set their alarm to give them plenty of time to get ready and to the travel office on time, they set out their clothes for the next day (Josh even pre-tied his tie!), and went to bed. According to Josh, "I don't know how it happened, but everybody in the room slept through the alarm." They were awakened by an announcement over the intercom (which Josh claims has "HUGE" speakers in the residence buildings): "Excuse me elders, but are Elders Richardson and Knaras still there? They were supposed to be in the travel office 10 minutes ago." We would have paid a lot for a video of this, Josh claims he moved fast that early in the morning! They jumped out of bed, pulled on their clothes, grabbed their bags (who knows what, or how much, was left behind) and "ran as fast as [they] could physically run" to the travel office, only to be told that the staff there believed the bus had already left for the airport. Someone in the Travel Office got on the radio and spoke with the bus driver, who said he was just pulling out of the parking lot ... he was willing to wait for the two sleepy-heads.

By the time Josh got to the phone to call us, he had already given away a pass-along card. He IS READY TO WORK! One other comment from him that brought a smile to our faces: "Wow! Even just being in the airport here in Salt Lake is waaaaay different than the MTC!" Yes, it is ... and now his mission really begins!!

Josh will dearly miss his Tongan friends in the MTC, a group of people to whom he got very close! He reports that he is now a Tongan. One Tongan elder would always bring a bowl of ice cream over for Josh. On the one occasion that Josh got one for himself, his Tongan guardian angel made him eat the one he got for himself and the one the Tongan brought. Josh really loves those friends. Josh picked up a little Tongan, and there is a phrase that seems to be his favorite, in English it is: Roll the Rock! Referring to the rock that King Nebuchanezer saw in his dream, the one cut out of the mountain without hands and which rolled to fill the earth. It is a beautiful saying.

Josh has been closing his letters with a Tongan phrase:

miea a'aku vhe
miea a'aku loto
miea a'aku uma
ki he otua

He gave us a rough translation ... my arms, my legs, my heart, are for God. It captures Josh's attitude. Look out Tennessee ... here comes Josh!