Our third transfer week!

 Time, in the mission, is measured by transfers.  If we ask a missionary how long she/he has been here, they will say, "This is my 4th transfer", or "This is my 8th transfer."  Senior missionaries don't always arrive on the "transfer" day, and that was true for us.  The first transfer for us happened two weeks after we got here, just a few days after our orientation was over.  That was the historic arrival of the 28 missionaries.  The next transfer was the arrival of the 22 missionaries, and this, the third transfer was the arrival of only 8 missionaries.  Eight!  It was manageable!  It was relatively calm!  Instead of having to use the Relief Society room at the nearby church, we were able to orient them at the employment center next door to us in the DI complex.  I love to see the arriving missionaries from the MTC--I have been working on their arrival documents and preparing their guidebooks for about 12 weeks and seen their pictures many many times, and to be able to match their faces with their pictures is really fun.  We received six new elders and two new sisters, making a total of 17 sisters now serving in this mission.  The arriving missionaries always make me feel renewed enthusiasm!

I'm giving my section of the orientation.  

Glen is giving his section.  He prepared a power point presentation this time to orient them!  After this section of the orientation, I am responsible to prepare lunch for them.  We have a yummy salad (the recipe from Sis. Zobell), pizza, and eclairs.  We found out again that one of the sisters is gluten intolerant, so we ordered her a gluten free pizza.  We had another celiac disease sister with the first transfer we had--can you believe it?  This is our 2nd missionary now that needs a gluten free meal.  I'm so glad I was prepared for this because of Lindsey!  

After their several hour long orientation, we go over to the church for the actual transfers to take place.  I have to hold all the mail from the Thursday before transfers because the missionaries of course change addresses and they wouldn't get their mail.  So I bring all of the mail that has been held and give it out there.  These missionaries were so helpful to get it set up and anxious to see what they got! They are  Elder Richards, Elder Johnson, Elder Barlow, and Elder Reyes.

Glen loves chatting with the elders, Elder Tews and Elder Torgerson.  

This picture doesn't quite capture the feeling of transfers, but it was all I had.  The missionaries are in the cultural hall, and as the new missionaries are announced one by one, they come out and meet their trainer for the first time.  I just love to see this!  It gets more exciting for us with each transfer because we are getting to know the missionaries better.

And guess what?  I got all my letters done and in the mail, and boy, does that give me a feeling of accomplishment!

On Tuesday, I had an awesome experience with the postman.  He comes to our office generally twice a day, once to drop off the new mail and then again to pick it up after I have processed it.  He does an awesome job and is the nicest man.  On this day, he started asking about what our office is, what we do, and why we forward all this mail. I explained to him that we have 150 young men and young women who have come here from many different countries to teach people about our church and its teachings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or also known as the Mormons.  He said, "I am a Catholic.  How does your church's teachings differ from ours?" Can you believe it?  I explained to him the role of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and that he has a body as evidenced from his ministry and his resurrection.  (and many other things about this.)  He said, "I thought Mormons were only from Utah and they could only be white."  He is from the Phillipines.  We talked about that for awhile and the Spirit was really strong.  It was such a neat experience!  I hope we can have more discussions about it.

Later that evening, we were asked by Elder Alford and Elder Vieira to go with them as they taught two eight year old twins to prepare them for baptism.  Their mother is inactive and their grandmother, who is from Brazil, wants them to be taught.  The elders received this referral and when they got to their apartment, they found that the grandmother could not understand a word of English--and Elder Vieira is the only Portugese speaking missionary in our mission, and he was the one assigned to this area to teach them!  It was so amazing!  It was so fun to be their and offer our comments--it's a joy for us.

On Wednesday, Halloween, Sis. Black had planned and organized a mission wide talent show and dinner.  She had decorated the cultural hall so cute and festive, and everyone was so excited for the activity.  It was the first time that ALL the missionaries were ever together for as long as the Blacks have been here.  It was so much fun to see the missionaries perform their talents--and there was a vast array of talents!  One elder juggled, and it was AMAZING!  Another one did the yo yo, and we've never seen anything like it.  Several sang or played the piano, or violin.  Some did skits.  Elder Fairbanks (pictured above) and Elder Weekes, the assistants, were the emcees and did a great job.

Elder Koncurat and Elder Wrathall did the drums on these buckets, and we just couldn't believe it--they were like professionals.  

Elder Peacock (pictured on the left and a zone leader of the Lone Mountain zone) asked me to be in their skit for a very small part.  They did a spoof on American Idol with people from "The District"--videos of actual elders and sisters teaching real investigators.  I was playing "Jynx", one of the investigators.  Their skit was hilarious and so well written and performed.  We laughed so hard!!  Pictured here also are Elder Steenstra, Elder Kaelberer, and Elder Lee.

The missionaries just love being all together!  It was a great evening.  We got home at about 7:00 and didn't have a singe trick or treater--maybe they had come earlier.  I was so sad, because I LOVE to see little trick or treaters!  We really missed seeing the grandkids this Halloween and having fun with them, and loved getting the pictures of them in their cute costumes.

We went to dinner with our friends, the Yochams.  They are such great people.  We had a wonderful time.  

I took a very interesting phone call this week.  It was from a lady who was irate, swearing, and rude.  She said that Romney was a despicable liar and cheat and she felt all Mormons were the same and that's why she wasn't a Mormon, but her adult children were.  She didn't want them to be.  Oh boy!  It was crazy, but I just had to tell her that the Church is politically neutral and that she was entitled to her own political opinions.  

On Saturday morning, we went to inspect a missionary apartment that was in need of new paint and new carpet.  Four elders live in this apartment, and it was only my second time seeing the inside of a missionary apartment.  Pictured here is also the high councilman over missionary work, Brother Papa, and he is an example of how a high councilman should be doing his job.  He was amazing.  We had a great time with the missionaries here, Elders Markle, Hymas, Packard, Deppe, Ringer, and Larson!  

Saturday evening we went to the baptism of an Iranian man.  His wife had been converted to the gospel as a young single adult in Italy and they had three children, who have been baptized.  The baptism was incredible and the spirit was very strong. The sister missionary who was involved in her converson 30 years before was there and spoke, and it was so touching.  How I love to go to baptisms!  They are the fruits of the efforts of the missionaries and many others. Pictured here are Elder Richards, Elder Godfrey, Elder Wrathall, and Elder Millar.  That same evening, a Christian Jew was baptized, and she said, "I always knew there was another piece to the puzzle."  Isn't that the coolest description ever?  The field really is white and all ready to be harvested here!