Our Eighth Transfer

It was probably a good thing that after Adam and Lisa left that we had to focus on transfers the next morning--otherwise I think we would have been so so trunky to see all of the grandkids!  It was so fun seeing them and Jade, Brigham, Lily and Lincoln that it would have been easy to just count the days until we could see the rest of the grandkids.  But there was so much to do to get ready for transfers!

And that Sunday evening, we had the wonderful opportunity to go Dave and Diane Lemmon's home for dinner and visiting.  It was so fun to see them again and see the amazing things that have been going on in their lives.  We had such a great visit with them, and it will be so fun to see them again in Utah!  They will be back a few weeks before we will be.

And Monday morning we started the frenzy of transfer day!  Sorting the huge volume of mail and packages from the weekend to get them ready to take to transfers, getting the transfer lunch ready, (I decided to do a different salad this time--I made an Olive Garden green salad), making sure that the new missionary orientation notebooks were all ready, reviewing my orientation presentation, etc.  We loaded up all the notebooks, luncheon stuff, and presentation materials and headed over to the Alexander building to greet the 25 new missionaries.  It was kind of a strange feeling that this would be the last time that the Blacks would be at the transfer, and our 2nd to the last time that we would be there.  In spite of how busy and crazy this day is, I love transfer days!  This was our 8th transfer and I just loved them.  I love seeing the enthusiasm of the new missionaries, although they are a bit blurry eyed from getting up at 4:00 a.m. at the MTC and traveling here.  Each group of missionaries has its own "feel" and this seemed to be a really good group.  With this transfer, we were now up to 215young missionaries and with our mission complement of missionaries, including all of the seniors, now up to 226.  

After our part of the orientation and the luncheon, we clean up and then return to the office, where I make copies of the passports of the new missionaries process a lot of things for them.  We barely have time then to gather the plethora of mail and packages and return to the church to gather the papers from the new missionaries for me to sort and set up the mail on the long tables for the missionaries to pick  up.

And then. . . drumroll. . . we sing "Called to Serve" and have a prayer, and then Pres. Black always says something before he introduces the new missionaries to their trainers.  This is what he said this time:

"Top Ten List--Why The Nevada Las Vegas West Mission is the Greatest Mission in the Church"

10.  Because the NLVW Mission receives the best new missionaries from the MTC.

9.  Because the NLVW Mission has the most fabulous members who give us rides, teach with us, love us, and feed us.

8.  Because Elder Dana helps everyone drive on the straight and narrow.

7.  Because Sister Dana helps keep track of our referrals and baptisms, and calls you if you forget to email your letter to the president.

6.  Because Elder McMillan knows how to keep your MSF cards funded, gives you beds, dishes, and vacuums for your apartments.

5.  Because Sister McMillan can answer the phone, talk to a missionary at the desk, type a letter, sort the mail, and keep the candy jar full all at the same time.

4.  Because Las Vegas West has the best assistants in the whole Church.

3.  Because Las Vegas West has the best zone leaders, sister training leaders, district leaders, and trainers in the whole wide world.

2.  Because Sister Black helps you stay healthy and because President Black has the corniest jokes in the world.  (By the way, did you hear about the new restaurant on the moon?  Great food, but no atmosphere!)

#1.  Because Las Vegas West has the very best missionaries who love to baptize!

And then the new missionaries are announced and introduced with great fanfare to their new trainers!  And then it's time for mingling with the missionaries who are there and saying goodbye to the departing missionaries.  Since this was the largest group departing (10), and my most favorite, this part was HARD!

  These were the best of the best, and I really hated to see them leave.  This is Elder Alford, who was in the Buffalo ward with us, and was an assistant. He had told us for nearly a year that he wanted to go to medical school, but he surprised us on his last day here that he had now decided to go to dental school instead. 

Elder Lee had spoken the day before in church when Adam and Lisa were with us, and he had invited us to hear him speak.  He had been a zone leader and was an awesome missionary.

Elder Weekes was also in the Buffalo ward with us and was also an assistant.  We were so fond of all of these missionaries!  We would miss them so much.

There is a new calling for sister missionaries--a few of them are called to be "Sister Training Missionaries".  They will be invited to "Missionary Leadership Training" meetings, which used to be called "Zone Leadership Training"  for zone leaders.  These sisters are the equivalent of zone leaders for the sisters, where they will take on many additional leadership responsibilities.  It's so exciting!  This is Sister Christensen, Sister Cox, and Lister Luamanu (from Samoa), three of the six newly called Sister Training Missionaries.  They are awesome missionaries and they truly have the respect and admiration of the elders for all that they do.

We clean up the church and put all the things away, and then head out to the parking lot where missionaries are changing their cars and loading up their suitcases into member cars.  It's a busy, crazy scene!  Pictures just don't capture what is going on. 

The mission trailer is loaded up with the suitcases of the departing missionaries who will now go to the mission home for their departing dinner and departing testimony meeting.  They will go to the airport early on Tuesday morning.  We had been at the office on Tuesday morning for about an hour when a departing missionary mom called me to tell me that her son's flight had been cancelled at the airport and she was so upset that she got another flight for him on her own and I needed to get the message to him.  Since I had ordered his flight, I knew that if HIS flight was cancelled, then 3 other missionaries who were also on that flight  had their flights cancelled as well.  It took me a few hours to sort things out, but the missionaries all had their flights rescheduled and hopefully got home on Tuesday at some time!  Church Travel told me to tell the mom to cancel the flight that she had gotten for him--Church Travel handles getting the new flights!

After transfers, we had to go back to the office to get some things for some missionaries.  We left the office after 7:00 p.m. but decided to still go to the Empty Nester's FHE at the Buffalo Ward, even though we were so exhausted.  It's always so fun to relax and be with our wonderful friends!  

The day after transfers is always the busiest day ever at the office, (getting all the leadership letters and new missionary letters going as well as printing and distributing new Organization Rosters, Phone Rosters, Arriving Missionary and Departing Missionary Rosters, getting 6 new missionary recommendations from church headquarters and sending congratulatory letters to these 6 newly called missionaries, etc. etc. Don't ask me why we chose this day to go clean the apartment that the new senior missionary couple, the Sudweeks, were moving in to, but we did.  The apartment had supposedly been left clean, but for some reason I was afraid that it wasn't.  We took cleaning supplies and we (Glen, me, and Sis. Black) spent two hours each and did some pretty heaving cleaning to get it ready.  Here's Glen even vacuuming the fans.  I was SO glad that we had gone, because I would have not liked the Sudweeks moving into such an. . . unclean apartment.

 I finally finished all the letters and other responsibilities from transfers on Friday, and we celebrated by going out to dinner with the Chapmans at a wonderful Italian restaurant.  It was a beautiful evening and we ate a fabulous meal outside.

On Saturday we finally cleaned our own apartment and then went to greet the Sudweeks as they arrived to the mission from Lehi.  We showed them around the office and then helped them move their things into their CLEAN apartment.  They will eventually take our places as the office couple and they will do a great job.  I'll post pictures of them next week.  We're excited to have them here.