Our Fifth Transfer

It's hard to believe that we have been involved in five transfers now--involving a total of 88 missionaries so far!  This transfer involved 24 missionaries, and we worked so so hard to prepare for them!  Glen started immediately after the December transfer to get ready for this one because it would involve opening nine new areas.  He had to go through the same process of opening apartments, providing gas/electricity, and furnishing them.  But we made it!  We are so glad that we have had experience now, because it gets harder and harder to open all these new apartments and we can do things so much more efficiently now.  It really helps that we know the wards and stakes better and we know the process that we have to go through.  Here's some of the transfer day that I wanted to record:

It took four vehicles in total to go to the airport to pick up the missionaries because there were so many.  Pres. Black took the truck, Sis. Black took her car, the assistants (pictured above--Elder Weekes and the brand new assistant, Elder Alford) took the van with the trailer full of their luggage, and Elder Fairbanks took the mini-van.  When there is a group this large, they do a "drive-by" the mission office to show the new missionaries where the office is.  We all come out of the office and wave and greet them.  The new missionaries always look so starstruck!  It's so fun to see them for the first time.

My portion of the orientation at the Alexander Building.  Glen has prepared a power point of his presentation, and it's so awesome!  He does a good job.  Sis. Conder also does a part of the orientation.

I order the pizzas and get all the things ready for the luncheon which is held after the morning portion of the orientation.  Sometimes Sister Conder helps me set it up.

I order several kinds of pizzas from Dominos and have fruit or salad and dessert.  The missionaries REALLY love the pizzas and they really need a break about now.  They get up at 4:00 a.m. at the MTC to go to the airport and fly here, and they're pretty tired.  It's so fun to talk to them when they're so brand new!

After transfers at the Alexander building, Glen and I had to go back to the office to get some supplies for some of the elders.  As we left the church to go, I said to Glen, "We need to come back to the church after we go to the office."  He said, "I was just planning on going home."  I said, "No, I just really feel that we need to go back to the church."  We were gone for 15-20 minutes at the office and then went back to the church where we found Pres. and Sister Black helping some missionaries with phones and other things.  They really needed our help, so I was so grateful for the prompting that we should come back.  No one else was there to help them clean up and lock up.  Then afterward we went to dinner with them. 

This is the transfer board, all completed after I had to redo every missionary's transfer card you see on the board.  The white cards are English speaking elders, the yellow are Spanish speaking elders, the pink are the sister missionaries, and the green are the visa waiters.The blue cards at the top are the zones, and a new zone was created this transfer, making a total of 10 zones.

It took me all week to finish the 140 letters that needed to be sent--the letters congratulating the missionaries on their new assignments (new assistant, new zone leaders, new district leaders, new trainers) and letters to the parents of those missionaries, plus letters to the parents of the new missionaries.  So much work!

I then give them to Mario, our wonderful mailman who I see usually twice a day.  He will deliver the mail, I then process it, and he will come back and pick it up so the missionaries don't lose time in getting their mail!  He's just so awesome.  When the new Ensigns come, (pictured on the counter ) I place them in piles for all of the 10 zones and then put them in bins where the zone leaders will pick them up and take them to their meetings to distribute to all of the companionships.

And we have already begun planning for the next transfer, which is the 5 week transfer--one week less than usual, (because of the shortening of the training at the MTC) and we will have 30 missionaries--a record--this time.  I sent an email to our stake members asking them for donations of dishes and other kitchen items and desks, tables and chairs, and couches.  Here is Bishop Larkin and his wife, Melanie, (who we just love) bringing lots of things to donate.  So sweet!

We need so many mattresses and furniture that Glen got permission to rent a huge pod--40 feet long--to store all the things in.  Some of the office staff thought we would never need one that big--but it was filled completely in about a week!  It's parked just west of the mission office in the back of the DI building complex.

It's so complicated to open it that Glen is the only one who knows how to do it!

Glen starts to put things into the pod.  We were able to get a few things from the school district donated--free!  When the mattresses were delivered and many other things put in ,including couches and tables, it completely filled it up.  I go to DI nearly every day looking for donations that have brought in that we can use.  And yes, we do actually pay for them with mission funds--something that the missionaries are so surprised with.  ("DI doesn't just GIVE that stuff to the missionaries. . ?"

More trips to Wal-Mart for supplies for new apartments!  

We worked 9-10 hours every day this week, but we were still able to go to the temple, and then Saturday night we were able to go to an opera called "Holodomor", which described the hunger killings in the Ukraine in 1932-33 by the Russians.  It was especially meaningful to us because Zena (pictured above) and also Valerie Chapman, who we have dinner with each month, both lived in the Ukraine.  It had many religious overtones and was so sad.  It was held on the UNLV campus.  We LOVE being able to go to these events here!  It really renews us for the next week.