James took a red-eye to Miami. HXP books the flight from Miami and back to Miami but families are responsible for getting their teen to Miami and home from Miami. I was very nervous for James to fly by himself but thankfully we've flown enough that I thought he would be ok. Marshall took him to the airport and he let us know he made it on his flight at 11:00pm. I went to bed and then woke up wide awake in the middle of the night. I realized I never talked to him about what to do when he got to Miami. He needed to go get his luggage from baggage claim and then find the international terminal and then meet up with his group. We got him to Miami with plenty of time to spare because we didn't want to risk any flight delays messing it all up. So he was there by 5:00 in the morning and had 12 hours before his flight out. I ended up sending him a text in the middle of the night. I told him what to do and told him he could call us when he landed. He ended up calling us once he landed and we walked him through what to do next. He text us when he met up with his group and then I was also very relieved when the trip parent posted pictures on the Instagram. Normally I try to spend less time on social media but while James was gone I was checking Instagram every half hour all day every day. Ha ha!
I felt so anxious until they got to the final destination. The first weekend was spent in Argentina. They got to go to Iguazu Falls. They also did some shopping and he got an Argentine jersey.
They stayed at some cool condos with a big area to meet as a group for devotionals. There was also a pool there and also in Paraguay so James went swimming every day. It was cooler for the first week and then it got really hot the rest of the time.
They ate at a really yummy Brazilian steakhouse. Mmmm!
Shopping in Argentina
James said they had long bus rides everywhere they went. He said it was so much fun though!
I thought this was pretty cool!
James's group had a few different jobs on the worksite. Brick layers, concrete mixers, and putting dirt on the floors of the school rooms or level out the ground. He loved mixing concrete.
He enjoyed getting to know the ward and he loved practicing his Spanish.
They went zip lining and canoeing on the second weekend.
He sent a letter home on the Sunday before he came home. He said he loved it there and he didn't want to come home. We were so glad he was soaking it all up and loving it all.
There was a 14-year-old girl from the local ward who had a crush on James. She gave him a few love notes over the time he was there. She also liked to sit by him in Sunday School.
This night they also rode bikes around and I don't have pictures but James said it was a highlight of the trip.
James loved his group but one girl in particular he really hit it off with. Her name is Audrey. They started off getting to know each other and then over the 2 1/2 weeks they starting liking each other. She even wrote us a really sweet letter too and I didn't even realize it was from her. Since we didn't know anyone's names I thought it was a parent leader. When James got home and told us about Audrey I told him I didn't even see it in the pictures. He told me she wrote us the letter and then it all made sense.
He flew home on a Friday. His flight was delayed so he didn't get in until close to midnight. We were so happy to see him! It was fun hearing all about it while we drove home. He said he enjoyed the digital detox. He had a little bit of a cold when he got home but overall he enjoyed really good health while he was there. He loved playing soccer with the locals everyday at lunch time. He loved all of the food. He said he didn't have any trouble sleeping because they were going going going all day so he was asleep the second his head hit the pillow.
He checked off his New's Years resolution Bingo board space right when he walked in the door. It was the space for "get first kiss." Good times!
